


The Surreptitious Affairs of Brickhosue

by iwanttobeyoursnow



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-08
Updated: 2013-04-08
Packaged: 2017-12-07 22:40:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 36,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/753896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwanttobeyoursnow/pseuds/iwanttobeyoursnow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is in Year 12, and has just moved to Doncaster with his sister, Gemma, and mother, Anne, from Cheshire. Louis is a new teacher at Brickhouse School, where Harry has just begun to attend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The incessant shrill ring of Harry’s alarm clock pierced the tranquility of his bedroom. Rolling onto his side, Harry glanced up toward the clock which read 7:30 A.M. Groaning, he swung his arm up in an attempt to quiet the shrieking clock. Once the room became silent again, he pushed his head into his pillow and tried to drift off into a peaceful sleep again, driving any thoughts from his head about the forthcoming day. However, the re-established quietness of the house did not last long, and within the next few minutes Harry could hear someone banging on the door to his room.

“Harry get your lazy arse out of bed and downstairs – you’re starting at Brickhouse today and you can’t be late!” Gemma, his elder sister’s voice, filled the small home. When she received no response, she began again, “Fucks sake Harry, just do as you’re told for once!” Her voice softened, “Haz, please, just do it for mum.”

“Alright Gem, I’m coming, I’m coming,” Harry’s mumbled reply came. Satisfied, Gemma trudged back down the stairs into the kitchen, to finish making their breakfast and left her brother to finish getting himself ready.

\--

20 minutes later, Harry heaved himself into the kitchen and dropped his exhausted body onto one of the chairs around their kitchen tables. Upon hearing her brother’s entrance, Gemma spun around bearing two plates laden with delicious looking breakfast foods. Carefully carrying them over to the table where Harry sat, she placed one down in front of her brother, and sat down with the other in the chair next to him.

“Wow Gem, this looks brilliant!” Harry flashed his sister one of his irresistible grins, before picking up his cutlery and hungrily digging into his meal. Gemma watched him amused for a few moments, before running a quick hand through his unruly curls and ruffling them, proceeding to mirror her brother’s actions, perhaps with more grace than he had. She decided it was best to wait until her brother was content with a full stomach before bringing up Brickhouse again.

Harry, Gemma, and their mother Anne Styles had moved to Yorkshire, to a place called Doncaster less than a month ago. The three used to live in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, up until a few months ago, when Harry and Gemma’s step-father had died. His death had been a true hardship on the small tight-knit family, and their mother was unable to remain in Holmes Chapel due to all the memories that being there brought back of her late husband. So, in the middle of the summer holidays, Anne had uprooted from their home and taken her family to Doncaster, where her sister had moved a few years previously. There, Anne was able to acquire a job at her sister’s local business. The pay was extremely generous, and her sister had given Anne a loan so she was able to purchase a small home near her sister’s for the three of them. Gemma had completed school a year previously, and was able to secure quite a nice job at Brickhouse – teaching the Year 7’s Creative Writing and art. With her job, Gemma was also able to secure Harry a place in the school for a much discounted tuition fee. It wasn’t as if Harry didn’t appreciate all that his sister had done to get him an opportunity like this at such a high-ranked school, only he wasn’t too keen on being surrounded by snobby rich kids all day long, and knew he would have an extremely difficult time fitting in.

“Haz, I know you think today will be a horrid disaster, but can you at least try please? Just try to fit in and don’t shut everyone else off like you do sometimes, just give these boys a chance. You never know, you might actually end up genuinely liking a few.”

Scoffing, Harry muttered a quick, “we’re late,” and “thanks for breakfast Gem,” under his breath, grabbed his scruffy school bag, which contrasted entirely with his smart new uniform, and stalked out the door. Sighing, Gemma gathered up the dirtied but now empty plates and popped them into the dishwasher. Then she grabbed her handbag and coat off the rack by the door and followed her brother outside.

\--

“Right all, settle down, settle down. I know you’ve all had such exciting holidays,” the teacher spoke in one of the most sarcastic and sinister tone, “but they’re over so sit yourselves down and pay attention.” An introduction from the same teacher, who Harry learnt to be the headmaster, followed bringing with it many new school announcements about clubs from over-enthused students, and sport team tryouts from the ‘jock’s, and whatnot.

Harry had allowed his mind to drift throughout all of this, and it is not until he heard someone making an announcement about new teachers did he begin to listen once again. First his sister had been introduced, and much to his dislike, received a few inappropriate cat-calls from the older students. “Douchebags…” Harry thought to himself. Once his sister had retaken her seat on the side of the stage, two more new teachers were introduced. One, a fifty-year-old new librarian who seemed nice enough, but it was the second teacher who caught his attention.

The boy sauntered onto the stage, flashing everyone seated in the great hall a cheeky grin. His brilliantly blue eyes dazzled through the dullness that surrounded him, and his floppy brown hair had been shoved messily out of his face. He wore brightly coloured trousers, slightly rolled up at the ends with a smart shirt and suspenders, and on his feet rested a pair of TOMS. “Hallo all, my name is Louis Tomlinson. I am the new Modern European History teacher at this school, so I am looking forward to getting to know those of you in my classes in Years 10 and 11, and that elite group of 12th and 13th Years I will have the privilege to teach.” His voice was absolutely mesmerising and Harry could do nothing but sit and stare in awe at his new teacher.


	2. Chapter 2

For the rest of the assembly, Louis Tomlinson remained in Harry’s mind. After giving his speech, he had bounded off of the stage, scampering out of the great hall. These actions are what caused a look of disgust to form on the headmaster’s face, before he had continued on with whatever other unimportant bullshit the school thought they had to cram into your brains on the first day of school. But Harry had remained fascinated.

As he left the great hall to head to his first class of the day, he overheard some of the other boys’ reactions to this enigmatic new teacher. “Well, I don’t know how he even got a job at this school in the first place. He only looks about 14, and did you see what he was wearing? That tacky attire is not appropriate for a school like this.” Harry followed the voice and came face to face with one of the most horrendous looking boys he had ever seen. Everything about this boy was utterly heinous. From his slicked back hair, to his crisp, perfectly neat uniform and shining black shoes. The boy stunk of expensive cologne and hair gel. He shoved Harry out of his path, and continued on his way with his little minions dressed almost identically trailing behind, as Harry stood glaring in disgust at the stuck-up prick. Rolling his eyes, Harry could only imagine what other snobby arseholes attended his new school.

Arriving at his new classroom, he hesitantly pulled open the heavy wooden door, and slipped inside as stealthily as he could, not wanting to attract any attention to himself. However, as soon as he had let go of the door, it slammed shut, creating a resounding banging noise as it did so. All in the classroom spun around to face him, and Harry had never felt more uncomfortable and intimidated in his life.

Liam, a boy who had been attending Brickhouse since Year 7 noticed the nervous expression on the new boy’s face, and jumped up out of his seat, rushing to his aid. “Hey mate, my name’s Liam Payne, it’s nice to meet you!”

Liam held out his hand for Harry, who graciously accepted and mumbled back a reply. “Oh, hello. My name’s Harry… Harry Styles.” Liam was an average-sized lad, with dark brown hair neatly cut, which matched the orderly arrangement of his uniform. However, his clothes were faded and shoes slightly tatted up, and Harry found himself taking an instant like to this kindhearted boy.

Sensing Harry’s continued nervousness, Liam pulled Harry closer to him, and whispered in his ear “Don’t worry, Harry, we’re not all conceited rich kids at this school.” Pulling back, Liam flashed Harry a quick smile and gestured for Harry to follow him to the back of the classroom where Liam had been sitting with two other boys. “Hiya boys, this is Harry Styles.” Turning back to Harry, “And this,” he motioned to a small blonde lad who grinned up towards him, “is Nialler.”

“Niall,” the blonde boy corrected Liam, and he too held out his hand for Harry. “Nice to meet you Harry!” Again, Harry accepted the boy’s hand and turned back to Liam as he began talking again.

“Niall moved here a couple of years ago from Ireland, incase you hadn’t already guessed. He’s one of my best mates at this school, and genuinely a really sweet guy.” Pointing toward a darker-skinned boy with jet black hair arranged in a short quiff, who had been chatting with Niall until Liam had come over with Harry. “That’s Zayn Malik. He moved up here five years ago now I think, from Bradford. So not that far off, he usually takes the weekends to go visit his friends back there.” Harry looked towards the boy who smiled at Harry and stood up to embrace him in a one-armed hug.

“Vas happenin’?!” He questioned the curly-haired boy. Harry grinned back, without having to fake it at all. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be as bad as he had initially thought. He sat with the three boys at the back of the classroom, and remained with them for the rest of the day. He figured out he had two classes with Niall, two with Zayn, and three with Liam. He found he got on extremely well with all three of the boys, and even got invited to a small gathering at Liam’s home that weekend with the other two boys and Niall’s girlfriend.

\--

When Harry got home that evening, after being convinced by Zayn and Liam to take part in the football tryouts with them, he was greeted by a delectable meal of bangers and mash, courtesy of Gemma. Harry sat, eating and half-listening to Gemma’s tale of her first day teaching, waiting for her to bring up a certain teacher that had been occupying his thoughts that entire day. Harry had Modern European History everyday of the week other than Tuesdays, so he had been unable to meet his new teacher yet.

“So I saw you spending time with a few boys today, they seemed nice.” Gemma questioned him.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, that’s Liam, Zayn, and Niall. They’re kind of my friends now. I mean, I think they are. I got on with them much better than I thought I would, and Liam’s invited me to his this weekend.”

"Harry, that’s wonderful! I’m so glad you’re enjoying yourself already. I told you it wasn’t going to be that bad.” She beamed up at Harry, which only caused Harry to copy the action. Standing up, Gemma cleared both of their dishes and embraced her brother in a short hug, ruffling his curls as she stood up. Harry got up to leave but paused and turned back to face Gemma when she began speaking again, immediately interested.

"Oh and Harry, I met one of your teachers today. He seemed extremely nice and such a lovely man. He was that quirky one from this morning’s assembly, you know Louis Tomlinson? I told him I had a little brother that was in one of his classes and he said he’s excited to meet you, as we really hit it off. He’s quite the looker, you know. Between those eyes and that hair, and his personality is simply irresistible….” Gemma trailed off and blushed, realising what she had been saying.

Harry smirked to himself at his sister’s embarrassment, and was ecstatic that Mr. Tomlinson was excited to meet him, yet he didn’t know why. And another thing that puzzled the young boy was that strange feeling he got when Gemma had been talking about how the two had ‘really hit it off’. Was that… jealousy? “No,” Harry thought to himself. “I’m just being a protective brother, being protective over my big sister. That’s all… Cos why on earth would I be jealous? That would make absolutely no sense. I mean, I obviously don’t want to date my sister, so what would I be jealous of..?” 

Shaking his head at the nonsense thoughts running through his head, he bounded up the stairs to his new room, stripping into his boxers and climbing back into his unmade bed, waiting for sleep to come.


	3. Chapter 3

It was Harry’s second day attending Brickhouse School in Doncaster, and already he had obtained three new brilliant mates, and even made it onto the school’s football team with two of them. Harry had spent the entire morning with one or more of the boys, and was now walking to his next class with Liam. Both Harry and Liam’s fourth period class was Modern European History – the one class Harry had been extremely keen to get to all morning.

The pair entered the classroom, Liam preparing to head straight to the back of the room, but Harry had other ideas. Grabbing his friend’s arm, he led the way to the front row and sat in the seats closest to the teacher’s desk. Liam raised an eyebrow at this strange move. Although they had only known each other for a day, every single class Harry had attended, he had been more than happy to sit at the back in the boys’ regular seats. However, Liam just shrugged and sat down next to him in the new seats Harry had chosen for them.

The two resumed their chatting, and it was not until five minutes later that their teacher barged into the room. “Hello class!” He announced his presence to the 16 students seated in front of him. Harry could do nothing but sit and gawk at him. He was even better looking than Harry had remembered. Today, Louis sported dark jeans with a light blue plaid shirt, another pair of TOMs on his feet. His hair was less messy than on the first day, and placed on his face were a pair of black rectangular glasses. The whole ensemble made Harry absolutely breathless. He had never seen anything so striking.

"Right boys, seeing as it’s my first day with all of you, let’s put the learning on hold until tomorrow and just spend some time getting to know each other today. Let’s start with the basics, first let’s go round and you all tell me your names. That shouldn’t be too hard now, should it? Start from the back right.” The boys sat stunned for a moment before a boy named Stan spoke up from the back corner of the classroom. Harry had not paid attention to anyone else dictating their name to Mr. Tomlinson, as he had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts about how a man could look so beautiful. It was not until Liam nudged him was he brought back into reality. “And you are…?” Harry realised the teacher’s question had been directed towards him, and stuttered out a reply.

"Ermm yeah… uh I… my name is Harry Styles, sir.” Harry hung his head, staring at his desk, embarrassed that he was unable to even get his name out without sounding like an absolute idiot.

"Ahh, Mr. Styles… You’re Gemma’s younger brother, right?” Harry just nodded, “Yeah she warned me about you. Lovely girl, Gemma is.” That same strange feeling within him, which he had felt the previous night, reappeared. What the fuck was that? It made him feel awkward in his teacher’s presence. However Louis, unaware of how uncomfortable he was making Harry, stood grinning at the young boy for a few more moments.

"Alright,” he finally continued, turning and addressing the rest of the class instead of just Harry, “so far I know your names. Incase you didn’t know, my name is Louis Tomlinson.” He wrote his surname on the board in large capitals. “I will be your Modern European History teacher for the next two years, if all goes well, so we shall be spending a long time together in all. And since we will be spending so much of our lives in each other’s presence, I believe that it would be best for us to get to know each other in greater detail than just our names. I want you all to write a sort of mini autobiography for me right now, briefly telling me a little about your lives. It doesn’t have to be anything too personal, just give me an idea of who you are, as a person. I will not be publishing these, and no one will see them beyond myself, so feel free to write something you deem private in any way, but remember, it is not mandatory to. Because this is a history class, I would also like you all to inform me your favourite time period in a specific place from the last five centuries or so, and don’t forget to explain why. That’s a key part of this. Alright lads, start writing! You have until the end of the class period.”

\--

The school bell rung far too early for Harry’s liking, signaling the end of his classes for the day, and the end of his time with Louis. Besides that, Harry had spent so much of the class re-starting and scrapping his brief autobiography that he only had a few sentences written down which he would be able to turn it. As everyone stood up to leave, they placed their papers in a neat stack on Mr. Tomlinson’s desk and filed out of the classroom.

Liam reached the door, and turned back to his friend who remained seated at their table, “Harry mate, you coming?”

Harry opened his mouth to reply, only was cut off by Louis, “Erm Liam, right?” Liam nodded, “Would it be O.K if Harry could catch up with you later, I want to have a quick word with him about this assignment?” Liam shot the pair a quizzical look, but noticing confusion plastered across Harry’s face as well, just nodded again before slipping back out into the corridor, leaving Harry alone with his new teacher.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each studying one another, before Harry’s curiosity got the better of him, “Er… Mr. Toml—”

“Louis.” Harry shot him an enquiring look. “Call me Louis, Harry. ‘Mr. Tomlinson’ makes me feel like I’m about forty. I’d like to think I’m still quite young.”

“Right, er, Louis.” Pausing, Harry thought to himself a moment before questioning, “How old are you actually Mr.—, I mean Louis? Of course, that’s if you don’t mind me asking?”

“No, no, not at all Harry. I’m 22.” Harry raised an eyebrow at that. “I know, quite young to be an A-Level teacher at a school like this, but I assure you I have all the qualifications.” Silence again consumed the room for a few more moments. “Anyways Harry, I’m sure you’re wondering why I wanted to speak to you. I noticed you had barely written anything down on your autobiography.” A panicked expression flittered across the young boy’s face and he opened his mouth but closed it again before Louis let out a small chuckle. “Don’t worry Harry, you’re not in trouble! But I do want to read more than just a couple of sentences for this, so instead of giving just you extra homework, I thought we could just have a chat now, and you could dictate it to me instead. How does that sound?”

“Yeah, that’s great…Louis, thank you.” Harry thanked whatever god was allowing him to spend additional time alone with this magnificent creature.

‘Wait…what? Harry, you should not be this excited about being held back in the classroom to talk to your teacher about pointless things… what’s wrong with you? Oh fuck it, just admit you like him you twat. But it’s a weird feeling; it isn’t what I get from Liam and the others. I don’t really know what it is. But it’s a good weird, which must be a good thing, right? Shit Harry, get yourself together; it’s not that big of a deal. For once, you might actually have a cool, friendly, approachable, funny, damn sexy teacher—wait did I just call him that? What are you thinking Harry? He’s not sexy. He’s my teacher. And he’s six years older than you. And he’s a guy. Get yourself together. You can’t be having those thoughts…but he really is very attractive, even Gemma said so…the way his smile just brings brightness and happiness into the room… the most stunning dazzling blue eyes I’ve ever seen… the way his glasses frame his face perfectly and the fact he is even able to pull off wearing glasses, never mind them make him even more fucking sexy, and it just makes me feel all warm and bubbly, as cliché as that sounds, but…wait…shit. Does this mean I fancy my new male teacher…? Shit.’ Harry let his thoughts run riot over the silence in the room, and the conclusion which he had gathered caused him to grab his bag, and race out of the room as fast as he possibly could, leaving a very startled and puzzled Louis behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry had no idea where he was headed, just knew he had to put as much distance between himself and his new teacher as possible. He shouldn’t-couldn’t be having these feelings! It wasn’t right. Louis was a guy not to mention his teacher. Harry sprinted as fast as he possibly could through the almost deserted corridors of Brickhouse, trying to find a recognisable place in the unfamiliar building. Somewhere in his haste, he had found himself outside by the football pitch. A few boys he had seen around school were having a casual kick-about during their lunch time, and wanting to be on his own for a while to sort out whatever the fuck he was thinking, turned and dashed in a new direction. Bursting through the doors to the locker rooms on the other side of the pitch, he was met with known voices. However, they had not acknowledged Harry’s arrival, too wrapped up in their own conversation to notice the newcomer to the room. Although he could not see them, he knew it was Zayn speaking.

“But I just don’t get it Liam! I don’t understand. Please explain to me the problem, because it makes fuck-all sense to me.” Although his words may have seemed harsh, he spoke them with a pleading tone.

“Zayn, it’s not right to be doing this! With you, of all people!” There was a pause, and although Harry could not see his face, he could sense the look of hurt on Zayn’s face. “No, Zayn. You know I don’t mean it like that. You’re my best friend. Are you sure this is what we should be doing? I don’t want to risk everything we have and ultimately get nothing in return. I don’t want to end up hating you over something which could mean absolutely nothing.”

“But it does mean something, Liam! It means absolutely everything! Can’t you see?” Harry’s curiosity getting the better of him now, he tip-toed as quietly as he could to the row of lockers in front of him. He then peeked his head round the side, attempting to keep himself concealed while simultaneously attempting to get a good view of the two boys. Zayn had been standing at an angle so he was turned away from Harry, but his back was not fully toward him and Liam was turned to face Zayn, so neither arguing boy could see their eavesdropping friend. “Liam, you mean everything.” Those last words had been spoken so quietly, had it not been for the immediate brightness they had brought to Liam’s face, Harry would have thought he’d imagined it.

“Do you really mean that, Zayn? You really want to try this, and you won’t give up on me? You really think we can do this?” Zayn nodded eagerly, sensing Liam was on the verge of agreeing with him. “But what will everyone-”

“Fuck everyone else Liam. This is about you and me. If they don’t approve, then they’re just ignorant pricks. But you know them Li, those whose opinions actually matter will be happy for us, no matter what. You know that. I love you Liam. More than anything or anyone else and I can’t let these feelings go unacknowledged any longer. Please Liam, just give us a go? If you feel uncomfortable at any point or you think it’s threatening our friendship, just tell me and we’ll stop. Revert to being just friends. But I don’t want to be just friends anymore Li. You mean so much more to me than that. And I know you feel the same way about me.”

After Zayn’s mini-speech, he paused and glanced back at Liam who had been sitting on the bench listening raptly to everything the other boy had been telling him. After a few moments of careful deliberation, Harry could just hear Liam say, “fuck it,” before pushing himself off the bench, crossing the couple of metres which separated the two boys as quickly as he could without running, grasping Zayn’s grinning face in his hands and crashing their lips together.

Harry let out a small gasp, unheard by the two other boys, who had begun to deepen their kiss. Harry watched on keenly from behind the lockers. The way that Liam gripped onto Zayn’s face, while Zayn’s fingers dug into Liam’s hips, attempting to remove any non-existence space there was between the pair. Although Harry felt quite like a pervert watching the two boys get off with each other, unknown to the two, he couldn’t stop. At first it felt kind of awkward to see the two boys pulling, but that thought went straight out of Harry’s head a few seconds later when he realised just how hot the scene was. Granted, Liam and Zayn were two exceptionally good-looking guys, but Harry had never even thought of a guy as attractive before the previous day, and even then it hadn’t been either Liam or Zayn. Although he did not fancy either boy, their passionate kiss was still extremely alluring.

Liam’s hands had moved from Zayn’s face to his chest, pushing them apart for a moment before slamming Zayn down onto the bench he had previously occupied, and pressing their lips together once more. Liam had moved on top of Zayn and was straddling him, pinning Zayn’s torso and legs down so he was unable to move. Zayn didn’t seem to mind though as he responded to the kiss just as eagerly and ran his hands down Liam’s back, resting them on his ass, giving it a squeeze, which caused Liam to smile into their fervent kiss.

At some point, Harry had begun to imagine what it would be like to be in that position, straddling Louis on top of his desk, with Louis’ hands cupping his ass. He imagined what it would feel like to have Louis’ delicate and lush lips pressed against his own, and the thought sent goosebumps around his entire body. All of a sudden, Harry tensed up, registering that he had just had a very sexual fantasy about his teacher, which caused him to dash out the room, leaving the two boys at it. As Harry fled from the locker room, somewhere in his mind, he became aware of the fact that the fantasy itself had not made him uncomfortable, even the fact that it had been about Louis wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, it was how much he had enjoyed the fantasy which really freaked him out. Yes, Louis was obviously fucking gorgeous but he was still Harry’s teacher, and he should not be having such filthy and arousing thoughts about him. No matter how much they may seem right to him. And they did. When Harry pictured himself with Louis, the whole thing just seemed right.

‘No,’ Harry thought. ‘No. He’s my teacher, and nothing will happen between us. No matter how much I want it to. And why would he even take a second look at someone like me when he looks like that. I just have to forget about him and his annoyingly perfect face…’ 

During his thought process, that infuriatingly beautiful voice of the man whom he had been thinking about for the past hour flooded his ears, calling out to him. “Harry! Harry, mate! Wait, just speak to me for a moment, please!”

As much as he wanted to, Harry was unable to resist Louis’ desperate pleas, and turned around so he was face-to-face with him. Just remember, he’s your teacher. He’s not attractive and nothing will happen between you. So don’t pretend like it will. “Yes, Mr. Tomlinson?”

Louis smiled with relief. “Harrrry, I told you to call me ‘Louis’! I’m not an old man…” Harry did not find the way that Louis lengthened his name as he spoke to him beguiling. Nope, not at all.

“Sorry…Louis…what is it that you wanted to speak with me about?” Harry kept his replies short and simple, eager to get out of Louis’ presence before he said or did something he’d regret.

“Silly, have you completely forgotten?” He paused for Harry to answer but when Harry’s expression remained unchanged, he continued, adopting a more serious tone than he had before. “Look Harry, I was really worried about you. I ask you to sit down and speak with me for a few minutes about yourself, and your reaction is to dash of to god-knows-where. You can’t expect me not to worry when a student of mine has that kind of reaction to something quite trivial.”

Anger boiled up inside Harry, and he had no idea why or how he had gotten so mad at his teacher in such a short space of time. “Right, you want to know about me Louis..?! Ok, well you know about my sister, Gemma. Do you know about how she is the one that practically cares for me now? And you want to know why? It’s cos my mother is out all day every single day working to get us enough money to live a relatively nice lifestyle. And it’s because she cares about us that she does this. She hasn’t been absent my whole life, only just recently. I’m sure you’re aware I’m new at the school, and new to Doncaster? Yeah, that’s cos my step-dad fucking died a few months ago, and it was too hard for my mum to keep living in Holmes Chapel, so we had to move down here. So now you know. Now you know all about me and how my whole life has been tipped upside-down in the same year. I’ve left behind my home, my friends, and my dad’s gone. Happy now?” Harry glared at the teacher whose face was plastered with sympathy and nervousness, not knowing how to react to Harry’s situation.

However, when Harry’s glaring face broke down into tears, Louis knew he just needed to be comforted. So, he put his arm around the younger boy and steered him back into his empty classroom. Sitting Harry down, he knelt in front of the boy and whispered comforts to him. However, realising these efforts were futile, he stood up and just embraced Harry in his arms, and held him there for a period of time neither were aware of.

Finally pulling back, Louis motioned to the door, and informed Harry that he would go find his sister. But, on his way toward the door, Harry had reached out and grabbed onto Louis’ wrist. Turning back, Louis could see the look of desperation in the lad’s eyes, and when Harry said simply, “don’t leave me Louis,” he was unable to turn his back on the young boy. Instead, he turned back and embraced Harry once again in a lasting and firm hug.


	5. Chapter 5

The two boys remained entwined until the sharp ring signaling the end of lunch penetrated the entire building. Louis stood up, releasing Harry as he did so, and watched the younger boy wipe any remnants of tears from his face. Harry was the one to finally break the silence. “Er… thank you, Louis. I’d better go find Gem now…” He spoke with such a delicate and vulnerable voice, that Louis’ heart began to break as it had when Harry initially told him of his situation. This young man had gone through so much hurt and loss over the past few months, which Louis thought someone as young as 16 should never have to deal with.

A few more moments of silence passed, before Louis realised Harry had been waiting for permission to leave. “Oh, right. Yes Harry, I think you should.” At that, Harry picked himself up, grabbing his abandoned bag from the floor beside him, and continued towards the door. Just before he had opened it, Harry heard Louis speak from behind him. “But Harry, if you ever do need anyone to talk to, for advice, to have a good cry, or just for some company, my door is always open. Please don’t be afraid to come to me if you need anything Harry. Anything at all.”

Harry gave a curt nod, and without turning around to face his teacher, pulled open the door and bolted from the classroom as fast as he possibly could without sprinting. Harry had done something, which he regretted. He had opened himself up to the young teacher. He had poured out his entire soul to Louis. And Louis’ reaction had only made Harry’s unwanted feelings for him intensify. Not only did Harry feel awkward around Louis because of how much he wanted to be with him, he also now felt eerily exposed. Now that Louis knew most of his darkest secrets, Harry had granted him further permission into his life.

Not knowing what to do with himself, Harry decided he wanted to be on his own for a while. Since he had no lessons left that day, he made a beeline towards the exit of the building. He was almost there, just a few feet away when a nauseatingly giddy voice called out to him.

“Harry, mate! We were going to the common room to meet up with Niall before football practice starts, want to join?” Harry spun around, knowing he could not miss out on his first practice after making the team.

“Er yeah Liam, I’ll catch up with you in a minute, just need to speak to my sister.” Not wanting to be in the presence of the clandestine couple alone, he decided he’d better check in with Gemma anyways, and then he would make his way to the common room by himself.

\--

Knocking on Gemma’s classroom door, he waited for her to wave him in through the glass, before entering. “Hey Harry, did you have a good day?”

Harry watched his sister wipe down the tabletops, and begin putting things away before crossing the room and assisting her, replying with only a slight nod. Gemma gave him a look as if to say “go on,” unsatisfied with his response. “Well, you know…Mr. Tomlinson?” Gemma nodded. “Something really weird happened with him today. I kind of had a moment, thinking about dad and all, and he was there and just sat comforting me until it had passed. It was really odd… but actually quite lovely of him to do. I don’t know… I mean should I thank him in any special way? Or would that just be too awkward? I really like him—” Gemma raise an eyebrow at that. “You know, I mean he’s a really nice guy and seems like a great teacher. He’s a lot of fun. I don’t know Gem, I mean should I do something to thank him?” Harry stopped fiddling with the ‘arts and crafts’ supplies he was supposed to be sorting into the correct boxes and turned to his sister, giving her answer his full attention.

“Well Harry, from what you’ve told me, and what I’ve seen of him, Mr. Tomlinson seems to be a genuinely nice guy. Oh, I know! Let’s invite him to dinner sometime this week! You said you liked him, and because I’m his colleague it shouldn’t be awkward. And you know how I love to cook for others. Oh, this is going to be such fun!”

Harry just gawped at his elder sibling for a minute before being able to remember how to speak. Panicking, he hurriedly began to come up with any excuse he could to prevent his sister from inviting Louis to dinner. Harry had already let this man into his life more than he had wanted to, and if he kept going, Harry feared what may come of his minor infatuation. “What? Gem… no, don’t. It’s just going to be a hassle and the whole evening will be uncomfortable, just don’t. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry, just forget it.”

“Oh don’t be silly, Harry. Louis is a lovely man, and he is more than welcome to have dinner with us, especially after what you’ve just told me he did for you. I’m inviting him, and that’s that. You’ll just have to put up with it. It’s only a dinner for god’s sake.”

\--

The next day, Harry spent the entire morning noticing small glances and motions passed between Liam and Zayn. The new couple had not revealed their relationship to either Harry or Niall yet, but they were not doing a great job of keeping it a secret. At least, not to Harry, but then again after that little show he’d witnessed yesterday afternoon in the locker-rooms, it was surprising the two were able to refrain from pouncing on each other.

Gemma, despite Harry’s wishes, had gone ahead and invited Louis to dinner at their home. He would be joining them that night. Harry decided he would just spend extra time at football practice, so he would be able to miss the majority of the dinner. He did not want to be alone in his house with his elder sister and his gorgeous new teacher. And Harry had been purposefully avoiding Mr. Tomlinson all day, ignoring him even when Louis had been directly talking to him, and claiming a seat in the back corner of the classroom, keeping his head down the entire time. Nevertheless, his peculiar behaviour had gone un-noticed by Liam, probably due to his completely love-addled brain. Not to mention the fact that Harry was 90% sure Gemma had a large crush on aforementioned teacher. Yep, tonight was going to be interesting.

\--

Harry arrived home that evening a little after 7 p.m. Unfortunately, Louis was not expected until 7:30, and dinner was not going to be served until as late as 8 p.m. Gemma had arranged such a late dinner as a way of ensuring Harry’s presence at the table. Soon as Harry walked through the door, he dropped his book-bag and small rucksack containing his football gear by the door, kicked off his converse and trudged up the staircase. If Harry was going to be forced to sit through a dinner with Louis, he was damn well going to make sure he looked good during.

\--

Gemma had told him to come any time between 7:30 and 7:45, although dinner was not going to be served until 8 p.m. Louis had done close to what had been instructed, arriving at the Styles’ home at precisely 7:15 p.m. He debated whether or not to wait the fifteen minutes before approaching the small home, but he soon decided to just go for it now. All day he had been keen to see them. Louis had been ecstatic when Gemma had invited him to dinner at her home, and he had accepted the invitation in a heartbeat. Louis would be foolish to turn down the opportunity to have dinner with the person that had been haunting his thoughts for the past couple of days, ever since he had first seen them during the opening assembly. Louis knew he shouldn’t be getting involved with anyone, especially not someone from Brickhouse, but he couldn’t help it. He had instantly been attracted to them, and over the first three days of school, done everything in his power to spend as much time with them as he could. Louis just couldn’t help himself.

Knocking on the door, he was soon greeted by a grinning Gemma. She looked absolutely breathtaking, wearing a form fitting black cocktail dress, with laced black wedge heels and black thin stockings. Louis stood for a moment, taking in her honestly extremely sexy outfit, before thinking to hand her the bottle of wine, which he had brought with him for the occasion.

Extending his arm toward her, he passed on the bottle, and shot her a quick smile. “Wow Gemma, you really look amazing.”

Louis’ words caused her to beam up at him, before stepping back to allow him into the home. “If you’ll just go through there, into the living room, I’ve set up a few drinks already and have a few snacks out but the meal won’t be ready for another half hour or so. Actually, probably closer to an hour.” Louis passed through the corridor and into the cosy living room. “Now you are a little early, so knowing Harry, he won’t be down until the earliest 7:30, but if you’d like to make yourself comfortable, I’ll just be right back? Oh, and you can just pop your coat down anywhere, Louis.” Flashing him another quick smile, Gemma slipped out the room and into, presumably, the kitchen, leaving Louis alone in their living room. Scanning his eyes across the room, Louis took note of the nonexistent family photos, which would usually be littered across the end tables and mantelpiece. In the midst of removing his heavy coat, Louis heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Gem, where the fuck are my–” Harry’s eyes bolted open wide in shock, and it took him a minute to collect his thoughts as he stood there in front of Louis. Harry had just gotten out of the shower, and unable to find a decent pair of boxers to wear, had wandered downstairs in search of some. Instead of being met with his frantic sister, he had been met with him. And the worst part was Harry had now forgotten how to speak and Louis wasn’t helping the situation, as he would not stop staring at the younger boy.

Louis had turned around to be faced with a naked Harry, covered only by a white towel riding low on his hips. His mop of curly brown hair hung down around his face, dripping wet, and his bright green eyes were shimmering a deep shade of emerald. Louis was utterly speechless. He had never seen something so damn alluring in his entire life. All he could think was ‘Shit, I’m completely besotted with him. My sixteen-year-old male student, Harry fucking Styles.’


	6. Chapter 6

“Erm… Mr-I mean Louis…hi! You’re early… Right, I’m just going to go er… yeah.” Harry spun around and fled from the room as fast as his legs would allow him, racing back up the small staircase, three steps at a time. As soon as he reached his room, he yanked the door open, raced inside and slammed it shut behind up, as if someone had been chasing him. Groaning he clutched his face in his hands, and felt it heat up from utter embarrassment.

Harry spent the next twenty minutes sat leaning on his bedroom door, contemplating whether or not he was still able to join his sister and Louis for dinner, or if it would be too mortifying for him. However, he finally decided that he really had no other choice, as Gem would have come upstairs to drag him down herself if he had not shown up. She had spent so much time preparing a perfect evening for them all, which she would not let her little brother ruin. Harry then spent the remaining half hour he had trying to decide on something acceptable to wear to the dinner. Although he knew nothing would come of his infatuation with Louis, for some reason he still wanted to make sure to look good around him. However, he did not want to come across as trying too hard, and definitely did not want to come across as some sort of slob.

Finally, Harry settled on a pair of maroon skinny jeans, a slightly low cut round-necked white shirt, with a grey blazer placed on top, and on his feet white converse. Giving himself a quick one over in the mirror on his cupboard door, Harry began fussing around with his hair for a few minutes before hearing Gem call out to him that dinner was on the table, before giving up and shaking it out and flipping it to the side. He then exited from his room and jogged downstairs; bracing himself for one of the most awkward dinners he thought he would ever have to attend.

—-

When Harry entered the dining room, Louis had to quickly glance away before he did something stupid, like ogle Harry. Cos damn did he look good. Louis pretended as if it wasn’t actual fucking torture to have to watch the boy stroll into the room, and cross over to the dining table.

Gemma had laid the table for three, as their mother had called earlier informing them she was having another very late night at the office. She placed two seats on one side of the table, and left the other side with just one place. Louis had sat down on the side with two seats, probably on Gemma’s command, and he was silently praying to whatever god there was that Harry would take the seat opposite him, trying to remain as far away from him as possible. However, if there was any kind of god paying attention to Louis’ life, he was one sadistic son of a bitch. Harry strutted across the small dining room, rounding the table and slipping into the seat beside his teacher. Louis audibly gasped as Harry’s sweet scent washed over him. Looking up toward the younger boy, he saw a smirk playing on his lips. ‘Bastard’, Louis thought. ‘Stop being so utterly perfect and amazing and stop looking so damn shag-able—’

However his thought process was cut short by a smiling Gemma entering the room, her arms laden with dishes. Her grin transformed on sight of her brother, and she soon bore a look of hostility aimed at her brother. Harry was just avoiding her glare at all costs, instead turning toward Louis and just watching him instead.

Noticing Harry’s eyes on him, Louis turned toward the young lad and returned his stare. Both boys soon became completely oblivious to the quite shattered looking Gemma struggling to manage with carrying in their meal. Even if they had noticed her, neither one of the boys wished to break their eye contact first, and it was not until Gemma had finished placing the dishes on the table did she sit down, clapping her hands loudly. It was this sudden noise that startled both boys, causing them to turn away from one another and look towards Gemma who simply declared, “let’s eat,” before proceeding to dole out the food.

In the hour it took them to eat the meal, Harry had not spoken once. It’s not like he hadn’t attempted to, it was just any time he opened his mouth to say something to Louis, his sister had cut him off. She had been trying to keep a constant flow of conversation with him up the entire time. However, at many points Louis found himself uncomfortable by Gemma’s probing questions, and during those times, he had looked to Harry for guidance. He was unsure why he decided to look to Harry, but he had. And when he did, all he saw was Harry staring at him, stunning green orbs meeting those of brilliant blue as Louis gained some sort of reassurance. He could feel Harry watching him throughout the entire meal, but for some reason, Louis did not seem to mind. It gave him an odd sort of tingly feeling, and although it might have been creepy if anyone else had done it, it was strangely enduring coming from Harry. Harry had been attempting to memorise the contours of Louis’ striking face, and had failed in finding one single flaw throughout.

It was not until the fifteen-minute intermission between dinner and desert did the two finally get to speak. After assisting Gemma in clearing the empty dishes off of the table and into the kitchen, the two left her to put the all-important finishing touches on the desert while they went to lounge in the living room together. Harry led the way, and sat on the far side of the sofa, inviting Louis to join him. Louis accepted his invitation, however seated himself on the opposite end of the sofa in a feeble attempt to keep some distance. Although, his attempts were soon thwarted when Harry just bumped himself down the sofa, sliding up right next to his teacher. The sides of their bodies were touching, and Harry had casually draped his arm on the back of the sofa behind Louis. Harry was the one to finally break the silence. “Well hello, sir.” As soon as the words had left his lips, Harry erupted in a fit of giggles.

This perplexing greeting had caused Louis to blush and immediately turn into a self-conscious teen again. “Wh-what is it, Harry? What’s so funny? Why are you laughing at me like that?” It took Harry a couple of moments before he was able to control his giggling enough to respond.

“Sorry sir, it’s just, er basically… teacher… in home. It’s all a bit weird and sort of surreal if you know what I mean.”

“Right, yes. Sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable, Harry. I’ll just go wait in—” As he made to stand up, Harry’s hand shot out and placed itself on Louis’ thigh, holding his teacher firmly in place.

“No, no you really haven’t. Not at all. It’s just weird seeing a teacher outside school, and I don’t know why it made me laugh, it just did. I’ll stop, I promise.” Harry flashed Louis a pleading smile, which automatically caused him to sink back into the sofa. Harry’s smile turned into a small gleeful one, as he too settled back down next to the older boy. Louis grinned back at Harry, and tried to convince himself that it was the polite thing to do when someone was smiling at you, instead of Harry’s lingering hand being the reason why.

Harry failed to remove his hand even when Louis begun speaking to him again. “Oh, ok. That’s understandable, I guess. But Harry, don’t call me ‘sir’ please? I’m not forty. It’s almost as bad as calling me ‘Mr. Tomlinson’. It’s just ‘Louis’, yeah? Or maybe ‘Lou’. But nothing else. Well, my mum sometimes calls me ‘Boo Bear’ but I’ve begged her to stop, I’m in my twenties now for god’s sakes…” Louis trailed off, realising what he’d just told the younger boy. This new information did nothing but cause Harry’s grin to double, which in turn made Louis hang his head in shame.

The next ten minutes between the boys was spent just enjoying each other’s quite company. The pair watched each other with massive grins on their faces, both trying to remind themselves that their relationship could be purely platonic. Harry’s hand had remained planted on Louis’ thigh, and it wasn’t until the two could hear Gemma’s voice trailing in from the other room alerting them that desert was on the table did either move. Harry, squeezing Louis’ thigh, stood up and offered his hand out to the teacher. Louis graciously accepted and allowed Harry to pull him up off of the sofa, before Harry let go of his hand, leaving behind a ghost feeling of the other boy’s hand in each.

They walked side-by-side into the dining room, and resumed their seats next to each other at the table while they allowed Gemma to serve them each a large portion of chocolate cake, topped with sauce and a side of vanilla ice-cream.

“So, Louis…” Gemma began. She had decided it was time to finally let him in on the true reason she had been so keen for him to join them for dinner, on the off-chance he had been unable to guess. “Have you got a girlfriend?”

Louis, who had been in the process of swallowing his first bit of the delicious cake began sputtering and choking at the question, causing Harry to rub circles on his back while he sipped at the water. Louis did not feel his heart swell as Harry left his hand placed on his back, even after his breathing had returned to somewhat normal. “Erm actually Gem, I haven’t been seeing anyone for a while. The last person I truly went out with was named Hannah, she was great but really more a friend than a girlfriend, and my attention soon drifted toward… her sibling. And after that mess, I haven’t really been able to find someone right for me.”

Louis was clearly finished with that topic, but Gemma looked intrigued, and continued pressing him for information. “So Hannah’s sister, was she older or younger than Hannah?”

Louis paused before answering, unsure whether or not he should be sharing that certain bit of information. “Well… he was a couple years older than us. He had just graduated uni and was home for break, it was kind of a one-night thing.” This time, it had been Harry who was caught unawares while attempting to finish his pudding.

Coughing, Harry looked up at Louis wide-eyed, as did Gemma before he managed to sputter out “He?” Sheepishly, Louis nodded. “So, what are you…gay?” Gemma aimed a kick at her brother under the table, appalled at how homophobic he sounded at the moment.

“Erm, kind of? At first I thought I might just be bi or whatever, but over the past two years I’ve just seemed to lose any little interest I held in women altogether. I hope that’s ok, Harry. I’m sorry if all this is sort of awkward for you right now, what with me being your teacher and all…”

“What? No, Louis it’s completely fine. Just a bit of a shock.” Harry gave the other boy a reassuring smile. “Completely fine,” he then proceeded to lean over and pull the elder boy into a brief one-armed hug, dragging their chairs closer as he did so. If Gemma had peen perplexed by her younger brother’s peculiar behaviour, she did an amazing job of hiding it.

—-

At some point while eating the desert, Harry and Louis had begun wiping parts of the chocolate sauce on one another’s faces, joking and messing around. Gemma had watched amused, if slightly jealous. That is until Louis had given Harry a playful push, causing him to knock over a glass of wine, which had been teetering on the edge of the table into Louis’ lap. And that is why the two boys found themselves in Harry’s small bedroom, faces covered in chocolate sauce, Louis covered in wine.

Louis had perched himself on the end of Harry’s bed while the curly-haired lad had begun to search through his closet for some clean clothes Louis might be able to wear. Seeing as Harry was slightly larger than Louis, despite him being six years his junior, Harry had settled on an old pair of grey sweatpants, and a plain white t-shirt. Laying them atop his bed. Turning to Louis, he said, “I hope they’re ok. I know this may sound extremely awkward, but the wine kind of went all over your trousers, and… would you like to borrow…do you want a clean pair of boxers?”

Louis had been startled by the question, yet he had also been extremely grateful. His boxers had been soaked through. Nodding an approval and grinning appreciatively, he watched as Harry turned to his drawers and pulled out a pair of his boxers for the man. Harry then turned back to Louis, “here, I’ll show you where the bathroom is, so you can clean up a little and change.” Harry escorted Louis out of his room and down the corridor to the bathroom he shared with Gemma. He then turned on the bath for the teacher, leaving him a towel by the pile of clean clothes.

Harry turned to leave, but stopped in his tracks as he felt Louis grip onto his wrist laden with bracelets. “Wait, Harry. Thank you.” Louis breathed out, and at that point Harry could no longer take it. Pushing Louis into the bathroom, he pulled the soaked shirt off of the other boy’s body, before pulling their bodies as close together as possible, and crashing together their lips. Louis let out a startled squeak before relaxing and returning the kiss with as much ferocity and passion as Harry. The two boys remained a tangled mess, gripping at one another with as much force as they possibly could, determined not to break their kiss. However, they had been stumbling around in their lust-filled frenzy, and at one point they lost their footing, toppling into the half-filled bath.

This however, just spurred them on more, Louis gripping as hard as he could onto Harry’s soaking curls, the pain he was causing Harry was nothing but arousing to the younger boy. Harry had been running his hands all over Louis’ bare chest, and now was moving them further down, sliding off the older male’s trousers as he went. As soon as the two broke their kiss for the pure need of air, it was as if reality had come crashing down on the two. As soon as they realised what they had just been doing—or about to do, neither was able to believe it. Both of their eyes had widened almost comically, and Harry had scrambled out of the room, leaving a sopping wet Louis behind in the bath.


	7. Chapter 7

Louis fled from the house as soon as he had finished cleaning himself off after his encounter with the younger boy. Harry had taken refuge in his bedroom, refusing to come out to say farewell to his teacher. Harry was thankful he had not been forced out by Gemma, and Louis was equally as grateful that she had not, and he had not had to face Harry again that evening. It was not until the next day at school that the two met once again - Louis was Harry’s teacher after all, and would be for the next two years. 

The pair had been able to avoid each other all morning, while Liam and Zayn were too wrapped up in each other to notice, Niall had an inkling that something was off with his new curly-haired mate. However, as Harry had managed to keep himself quite collected most of the time, he had shrugged it off, assuming the boy was just having an off-day.

It was not until it was time for Harry’s history class that Liam picked up something was wrong. Harry had been nervous and fidgety when it had come to this class all day, and now that they were on their way there, he had definitely become worse. Finally being detached from Zayn due to their schedules, Liam had become somewhat sensible and level-headed once again. Although the Bradford boy still occupied most of his thoughts, Liam’s brain was now able to function slightly more in the real world, giving him the ability to notice Harry’s peculiar behaviour. However, Liam did not know how to approach the boy about this behaviour, and thought it best for him to just keep an eye on the younger boy for the rest of the day.

However, finding out the cause of Harry’s problems had been a much easier task than Liam had been anticipating, noticing an even greater change in Harry’s already strange mood as soon as they had entered the classroom. The tension between Harry and Mr. Tomlinson was almost unbearable, and once again, Harry dragged Liam to sit in the back corner of the room.

Throughout the entire lesson, Harry, Liam and Louis had been wrapped up in their own minds. Harry had kept recalling the night before, and how desperately he wished it could happen again. He could still feel the warm buzz Louis’ lips against his own had produced, and it stirred a certain passion inside him. Louis’ thoughts had been somewhat similar, only he had also been attempting to rid the curly-haired beauty from his thoughts, constantly reminding himself that Harry was his student. Liam had spent the entire class observing the two after he had realised something aloof between the pair upon entering the class. He had thought the best way to receive answers of the younger boy would be to corner him after their lesson, and make him talk. 

Thirty minutes in to the fifty-five minute class period, Liam finally became impatient, when even their teacher had assigned them silent reading in their books just so he could sit at his desk and attempt not to gaze at the alluring boy in the back corner of the room. As quietly as he could manage, Liam tore a piece of paper from his notebook, scrawling down a note for Harry on the top, before sliding it across the desk in front of his friend. When Harry failed to pick up on Liam’s not-so-subtle note passing, Liam elbowed him in the ribs, causing a glare to form on Harry’s face. Liam nodded down towards the torn paper on Harry’s desk, before the younger boy finally comprehended what Liam had been trying to tell him. 

Sitting forward in his chair, Harry lazily glanced down at the paper, only straightening up in alert when he had read Liam’s note. ‘So what’s going on with you and Mr. Tomlinson..?’

Hastily, Harry scribbled back a short response. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

Frowning, Liam informed his friend of his observations during the class. ‘Well I mean the way there is some weird tension between you two all of a sudden, and before you were eager to sit at the front of the class, now you force me to come sit at the back with you. Not to mention the fact that you two have been not-so-secretly staring at each other this whole time, and both of you have gone off into this weird mental state, where neither are doing what they’re supposed to be doing-working. And the worst part is, you’re probably both thinking of the same weird thing pertaining to one another with is causing you to act off with each other. So, tell me…what’s going on with you and Mr. Tomlinson?’

Liam watched in amusement as Harry’s facial expressions morphed as he read his latest reply. Pondering Liam’s question for a few lengthy moments, Harry finally appeared to cave as he sighed and wrote ‘Not now, after class. I promise’ before passing the note back to Liam. Seemingly satisfied with Harry’s final response, Liam settled back in his chair and pretended to do the reading assigned, while he spent the rest of the class thinking about his Zayn.

As soon as Mr. Tomlinson excused their class, Harry grabbed his messenger bag and fled from the room as fast as he possibly could, wanting to avoid both Louis and the inquisitive Liam. Harry was not exactly sure where he was headed, he just knew he needed to get away from his teacher and friend. As he dashed down the rapidly filling corridors of Brickhouse, he came to a staggering halt after crashing into a familiar boy. Stumbling back from the other body, he glanced upwards, realising he had just run into Zayn.

However, Harry had no time to have any reaction to the other boy’s sudden presence as Zayn quickly turned on his heel walking into the boys’ bathrooms, dragging the curly-haired boy with him. Upon entering, a small group of underclassmen took no time in dispersing and escaping the room, leaving Zayn and Harry alone. Zayn proceeded to walk over to the bathroom door, closing it behind the Year 7’s who had just left, and locking it before he turned back towards Harry.

“Alright Harry, I know we’ve only known each other for a few days but I’ve just got this text from Liam informing me that you’ve been acting really weird in history and you ran when he tried to talk to you. And you promised you’d talk to him. So, he asked me to be on the lookout for you, and I can’t say no to that boy. Anyways, you are going to tell me exactly what’s going on right now so I can unlock this door and let the both of us out of here and you can go back to whatever and I can get back to Li—to stuff, ok?” Zayn stood protectively yet awkwardly in front of the door, and Harry had to hide a slight smirk at his little trip-up. 

Both Harry and Zayn held their ground for a few minutes longer until Harry gave up and realised that if Liam had sent Zayn to get answers, the Bradford boy would do all in his power to get Liam those answers. Sighing, and letting his shoulders droop in visible defeat, he broke the silence. “How much did Liam tell you…how much did he say in the text?”

Unashamedly, Zayn allowed a large grin to materialise on his face before replying to the younger boy. “Well, all Liam said was you were acting really dodgy before the start of class, and even worse when you saw Mr. Tomlinson and he was the same. Acting weird about seeing you, I mean. And Liam also said that you promised him that you’d speak to him about whatever is going on between you and Mr. Tomlinson, but you ran before he had the chance.” Harry nodded. “Oh, and he told me that he has that last bit in writing, and because you promised him answers, he is expecting those answers and will not stop until he gets them.” Zayn paused for a moment, smiling to himself at how adorable his boyfriend could be at times, before continuing. “So, I think it’d be easier if you just told me what’s going on right now so we can get this over and done with, Harry.”

Harry hesitated before responding, pondering how much was completely necessary to tell the other boy. He could make up some feeble excuse about how weird it was seeing him last night and that his sister fancied him, and that’s why Harry felt weird around him. He even started to think he could use his sister’s crush as a way to fabricate a story…something that would cause any brother to hate the man. However, he soon pushed those thoughts aside, knowing he couldn’t do that to Gem and he certainly felt bad about accusing Louis of having something to do with her in the first place.

Finally he settled on telling Zayn the truth. True, it might not have been a smart idea, but Harry knew Zayn wouldn’t have a problem with the whole gay thing, due to his recent relationship, and just felt like he could trust the guy. Zayn came across as someone good at protecting secrets. Plus, Harry just really wanted to get it off of his chest. He just needed to tell someone, so he figured Zayn was as good as anyone.

“Well…so long as you promise not to tell anyone? Like really you cannot tell anyone under any circumstances – not even Liam.” Although hesitating for a few moments, Zayn allowed his curiosity to get the better of him and promised. “Ok so erm basically… last night Louis came to my house for dinner. Cos, you know Gemma invited him for dinner cos she has a crush on him or whatever. Anyways we had a nice dinner and then stuff happened during desert and basically a glass of wine toppled onto Louis’ lap.” Zayn ignored the fact that Harry used their teacher’s first name instead of referring to him as ‘Mr. Tomlinson’. “Well I had to go upstairs and help him, you know?” Zayn nodded once more. “Ok so his clothes were completely soaked through so I lent him just an old pair of sweats and tshirt, but first he had to rinse off. So, I led him to the bathroom, set up the bath for him, leaving him with the clothes and the towel. But ermm…when I turned to leave, he stopped me to thank me, and well…err I’m not really sure how to say this but…I kind of…you know…kissed him?” 

“WHAT?!”


	8. Chapter 8

“WHAT?!”

Harry instinctively ran over and covered Zayn’s open mouth with his hand, trying to stop the boy from alerting half the school of their conversation. “Now Zayn, I’m not going to remove my hand until you promise to speak quietly, and like a normal person again. Ok?” Although half of Zayn’s face and his mouth were covered by Harry’s hand, his surprise over the younger boy’s new revelation remained present in his eyes. They were opened as wide as physically possible, and were almost bugging out of his head. Zayn nodded his head fervently, and Harry paused a few more moments before releasing his hold on the other boy’s face. 

The pair stood together for a while, Zayn gaping at Harry in awe, and Harry staring down at his feet, feeling extremely intimidated by Zayn’s glare. “Please say something?” Harry finally broke the unnerving silence.

“But…what…I don’t…” Zayn shook his head, and took a moment to close his eyes before snapping them back open again. “Ok Harry, well…how did Mr. Tomlinson…respond?”

“Quite zealously actually…” Harry was unable to hide a smirk that configured itself onto his face. 

“Jesus, Harry, don’t say that… I don’t need to know that. Ugh now I’ve got this horrid mental image of you two getting it on. I really did not need that. Ever.” This only caused Harry’s smile to grow more smug. “Stop smiling Harry, this isn’t funny! Do you realise what you’ve just gotten yourself into? Not to mention Mr. Tomlinson is technically considered a paedophile now? God, what were you thinking?!”

“I don’t know Zayn! He was just there, and he looked so damn adorable, and I just couldn’t help myself! Have you seen him, I mean yeah he’s not your Liam but you must admit he’s fucking stunning! The tension was insufferable and the only way to break it was to kiss him and when he responded we just kind of kept going…” Seeing Zayn’s eyes widen once again, Harry rushed to correct himself. “Oh god no, not that far! No we stopped for air and then I realised what we were doing and ran out of the room…and I haven’t spoken to him since.”

“Shit man…”

“Yeah, shit. What should I do, Zayn? I mean I really think I like him…and I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop myself if we’re alone together again. And he’s going to be my teacher for two fucking years. But he’s gay and he seemed to be into me…and I definitely fancy him…and I just want him Zayn. I know you know what that’s like. You just want him so badly you’d do anything to get them. But I kissed him then ran out on him, so now the situation’s just even more awkward. And…I’ve fucked all this up haven’t I?”

Instantly all of Zayn’s anger flooded away as he gazed upon Harry’s compact form. Harry was slightly taller than Zayn, but in that moment he could not have looked any smaller. His head was hung down low, and he was shuffling uncomfortable. He had barely managed to keep his voice from completely breaking during his last few sentences. Sympathy and pity engulfed Zayn as he rushed over to the other boy, pulling their bodies together in a strong embrace.

“Oh Harry, Harry, Harry…” Pulling away, he placed one hand under Harry’s chin and lifted up the curly-haired lad’s face to meet his own. “Look, from what you tell me I can see you really like this guy, even though he is our teacher and that’s wrong on so many levels.” Zayn’s words may have sounded harsh to some, but they were said in such a playful manner, Harry knew the Bradford boy was only trying to cheer him up slightly. “And I also think he may like you, too. Mr. Tomlinson doesn’t seem like a tease, and if you say he kissed you, then I think that means he has a thing for you too, mate. So, I don’t know whether or not that’s a good thing, based on the circumstances, but what I do know is that you have to speak to him, Harry. You won’t get anywhere by ignoring him, yeah?”

Wiping at his eyes, Harry broke into a feeble attempt at a smile. “Yeah, you’re right Zayn. Thank you.” He let his eyes wander from Zayn’s face, and around the room before turning back to Zayn and sighing. “Well, sooner rather than later, right?”

“Right,” Zayn nodded and grinned back at Harry.

Harry walked up to the door, pausing before turning the handle to turn back to Zayn with a new cheeky smile plastered across his face. “Well, come on Zayn, we both know Liam’s waiting for you…” With a final wink, Harry slipped out of the room, laughing into the corridor. Behind him, he left an embarrassed Zayn alone in the otherwise deserted classroom. Pulling out his mobile, he sent Liam a quick message.

‘Had a chat with the twat, he told me what’s going on and he’s going to fix it now. Also…pretty sure he knows about us…x’

Almost immediately after pressing ‘send’, he received a reply.

‘Ok thanks Zayn, you’re amazing. Wait, what do you mean he knows? He couldn’t possibly, could he? I mean…was he weird about it? x’

‘Oh trust me, Liam, our ickle Harry is never going to have a problem with us going out. ;) I’ve got to go sort some stuff out now, but we’re all still coming round yours tonight, yeah? x’

‘Yeah, the rest of the boys are coming at 7, but you’re allowed to get there earlier. Say 6ish?’ x’

‘Sounds brilliant Li, see you then xx’

—-

“Erm… Mr. Tomlinson?” Louis looked up from where he had been attempting to grade some of the Year 13’s first papers when he heard an extremely familiar voice. Of course, with a certain curly-haired boy filling his thoughts, he had been able to do little more than sit staring at the work, not even reading it, and now that boy’s voice filled his ears as well, all thoughts of work flew out the window. At the sight of the Cheshire boy, Louis’ entire body tensed up and his throat suddenly became impossibly dry. 

“Yes, Mr. Styles?” he asked cautiously.

“Erm hi. I thought it would be best if we could have a chat about…about…well you know?” Harry shuffled his feet awkwardly by the door, unsure of whether or not he was welcome to enter the classroom. 

Although extremely nervous about this conversation, Louis breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad Harry was the one who had sought him out, as he had been completely uncertain of how to handle such a situation. However, he believed it was best not to have ignored it and spent the next two years living in denial with this boy, and rather face up to what happened and talk through it with him. “Of course, Harry. Come in, come in. Just be sure to close the door behind you… must be wary of eavesdroppers…”

“Right, ermm yeah definitely. Thank you.” Hastily, Harry pushed on the door until he heard a faint click, before swiftly turning back around and heading into the classroom before he was able to change his mind. He turned to face his teacher, and almost instantly lost all strength he had been holding up until that point. Just the sight of Louis there, alone with him caused all the memories of the previous night to return to him. 

“So… last night. It was… interesting to say the least. Lovely dinner, you must thank your sister again for me.” He was speaking without looking into the younger lad’s eyes, and when he did look up was cut off from all he was about to say. Noticing that Harry probably did not give a shit about whether or not the food had been up to Louis’ standards, and he only wished to talk of one event from that night. Sighing, Louis looked back down to the ground, unable to speak the words while looking directly into Harry’s face. “Look, Harry. Last night was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened. I’m your teacher for god’s sakes! I should not be getting involved with my students in any way that isn’t strictly professional. Teacher to student. I’m sorry, Harry. I would really appreciate it if you just forgot about it. It meant nothing anyways, it was just a stupid drunken kiss.”

Louis only dared to look up after he had finished his mini speech, receiving no response from Harry. Expecting to find an either fuming or relieved boy, Louis was caught completely off-guard to discover neither. Harry’s eyes glistened more brightly than usual, although there was no light behind them, causing the bright emerald shade to turn into a murky dull green. Two tracks on either side of his face shone along with his eyes, showing Louis that they were streaked with tears. “Fuck you, Mr. Tomlinson. Just… fuck you.” Harry then spun abruptly on his heel and fled from the room as fast as his legs could carry him for the second time that day.

If Harry had looked behind him at any point whilst storming out of the room, he would have been met with a distressed and extremely remorseful Louis.


	9. Chapter 9

Harry ran. He ran because he didn’t know what else he could do in that situation. All he knew was that he had to get far, far away. Away from the source of his pain —away from Louis. Distance. Distance is what Harry needed. He ran through the deserted corridors of Brickhouse attempting to gain as much distance as he could. He only stopped when he collided with another person. Both boys fell to the ground in a mass of limbs. When Harry looked up, he was met by a grinning Liam.

“Hey, I was just looking for you! You’re still coming to mine after school, right?” Harry’s eyes were wide in panic and tears threatened to spill over the edges. He didn’t know exactly what he was feeling at that moment, it was too great of a mixture, but he knew he didn’t like it one bit. Noticing Harry’s abnormal behaviour, Liam’s features transformed from joking to serious in a matter of milliseconds. “Harry…? Mate, what’s up?”

When Harry refused to look up at the older boy, keeping his head hung towards the floor, Liam placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. That simple contact from his friend caused Harry to break down in front of Liam. His shoulders heaved up and down as silent sobs escaped him. “Oh, Harry…” was all Liam said before pulling the curly haired mate into a bone-crushing hug.

—-

“Liiiiiiiii-yuuuummmm!!!” The booming voice with a Bradford accent rang throughout the entire house. When Zayn did not receive a reply, he entered into the house, closing the door behind him. Liam had told him to come at six, right? Looking down at his watch, Zayn saw that it had just gone 6 p.m. So… where was he? Zayn had been waiting all day for some alone time with his new boyfriend.

Zayn stood in the entryway to Liam’s home for another minute, unsure of what to do in that situation, before Liam awkwardly shuffled in. “Hi Zayn. Erm, I’m sorry but—” Liam was unable to finish his thought, Zayn’s lips colliding with his own interrupting him. The moment the two boys’ lips made contact, all events of the past couple of hours escaped Liam’s brain as he returned Zayn’s kiss.

The couple’s kiss quickly became extremely heat-filled, as Liam began to unbutton Zayn’s stark white school-shirt. However, Zayn had other ideas as he dragged his own hands from Liam’s hair and placed them firmly around the other boy’s thighs. In one quick motion, Zayn lifted the younger boy and Liam proceeded to wrap his legs around Zayn’s torso. Carrying his boyfriend, Zayn led them through to the room next to them, the room Liam had appeared from and which he knew to be the living-room. Never once did their lips leave each others’. 

It was not until the pair heard an awkward cough from the other end of the room did they part. Zayn released his hold on Liam, and the two sprang away from one another, embarrassed about being caught wrapped up together. An uncomfortable silence settled upon the room as Harry sat staring at the pair before him. Liam and Zayn both looked like small children who had just been caught doing something naughty, as they stood staring down at their own feet. 

“So…” Harry spoke after what appeared to be an eternity to all three boys.

“We’re really sorry, Harry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Liam began but was quickly cut off by Zayn. 

“No, don’t apologise Liam. We’ve done nothing wrong. Harry, mate… If you haven’t already guessed… Liam and I are together. We both really like each other, and if you’ve got a problem then you can fuck off. But… judging from our conversation earlier and the fact you’re not slagging us off now I’m assuming you already knew and are ok with it…?” Zayn spoke in a strong, determined and protective voice, which did nothing to help the growing problem in Liam’s trousers. However, he said that last sentence in a more ‘hopeful’ tone, showing that he did actually care what Harry thought.

After Zayn’s declaration, the three remained quiet for a few more moments before Harry broke out into uncontrollable laughter. His sudden outburst confused Liam and Zayn but when he looked at the pair, smile plastered across his face and eyes twinkling, they knew he had accepted them. Zayn then grabbed Liam’s hand, dragging him along with him as he ran towards Harry, before jumping on the curly haired lad, enveloping him in a group hug with his boyfriend. Zayn’s actions caused Harry to break out once again in laughter, Liam and Zayn joining in this time.

—-

After Harry had explained how he had seen them in the locker-rooms a few days prior, and they had made it ‘painstakingly obvious’ something was going on between them, the couple before him just grinned at each other stupidly. The looks in the both of their eyes however, brought Harry back to the events of the night before, and then of that day. More specifically —his encounters with a certain new history teacher. 

When Liam looked away from Zayn for a moment, he became aware of a new tension filling the room, coming from Harry. Zayn must have felt it too, because he was also now glancing at the youngest boy with a concerned expression clouding his features.

“Harry?” Liam spoke with a gentle voice, not wanting to alarm the boy. Receiving no reply, he continued, “mate, what happened?” Still no reply. Looking toward Zayn, Liam realised Harry might have felt outnumbered in this sort of situation, as he had already felt vulnerable. Moving in front of Zayn, Liam brought his face closer to Harry’s and whispered to the other boy, blocking his boyfriend from the other boy’s thoughts. “Harry, please can you tell me what happened earlier? I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it but I really want to help you right now, and the only way I can help you is if you tell me what’s going on.”

Harry looked up to Liam, startled by their sudden proximity, but upon seeing the sincerity and warmth in his eyes, the younger boy could no longer hold up his barriers. And for the second time that day, Harry broke down into Liam’s arms. 

Once he had gathered himself together again, Harry pulled back from Liam, his face still glistening wet from the tears. He glanced behind the brunette boy and noticed that Zayn was no longer in the room with them. He must have been sporting a quizzical expression, as Liam just said to him, “he left a little while ago to wait in the kitchen. He didn’t want to overwhelm you at the moment, Harry. He’s worried about you. We both are. We both really want to help you, but we can’t unless you tell us what’s wrong.”

Harry just nodded. He knew he had to get this off his chest. It was tearing him up from the inside out, and he knew he had no one else to turn to. He was miles away from his old mates in Holmes Chapel, and he couldn’t tell his mum or Gemma. It would have to be Liam. Besides, he knew that he could trust the boy. He didn’t know why or how he knew, he just did. So, Harry told him.

“Well… there’s this person. And I don’t know what it is about them but I just really like them. I’ve only known them for a couple of days but there’s just something about them that draws me in. It’s quite scary how much I’ve grown to care for them and about them in the short space of time that I’ve known them. But…it’s a good scary, you know?” Liam just nodded. He did know. He felt the exact same way about Zayn. “Anyways, yesterday—yesterday we kissed. It was… well it was perfect. That is until I pushed him away.” Liam raised an eyebrow at ‘him’ but neglected to say anything, knowing Harry would explain in due course. “Well, today I tried speaking with him and he refused to accept that something happened. He basically told me it meant nothing and it was a mistake. That it would never happen again.”

Liam’s face fell. Sympathy for the fragile boy in front of him engulfed his entire body. “Oh Harry…” he breathed. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok, Liam. It’s not your fault. To be honest, it’s not really his fault either. It’s mine.”

The sympathy got pushed aside as anger now pulsed throughout Liam. “Harry, how can you say that?! You can’t let someone treat you like shit for no reason and then just take the blame, accept that you deserve it when you clearly don’t! Who is he?! Tell me who this dickhead is so I can have a fucking word with him.”

“I don’t think you’d like to have a word with him, Liam. You could get into a lot of trouble…” Liam now became extremely confused. 

“What? I’m not going to hurt him Harry, I just want to have a word with him about why he’s being such a fuckwad, that’s all. Don’t even try to defend him either, there is no reason he could possibly give to lead you on like that and then ignore you. None at all. Now, tell me his name.”

Harry just laughed at that. It was a bitter and broken laugh however, and it caused Liam’s heart to clench. “His name… you’re not going to like this Liam. Not one bit.” Liam grew even more perplexed and even more eager to find out who this mysterious boy was. “His name is Louis.” Realisation came crashing down on Liam, and his mouth dropped open as Harry uttered those last two words. “Louis Tomlinson.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Louis Tomlinson?! As in our Modern European History teacher, Louis Tomlinson?! Jesus Christ Harry, what on earth were you thinking?! What was he thinking?! Oh god…” Liam’s face morphed from outrage into reassuring as soon as he saw the panic written across the younger boy’s face. “Oh, Harry.” Liam leaned forwards and pulled him into another air-tight hug.

“You can’t say anything Liam. Please, it was me who kissed him. He wasn’t taking advantage of me or anything, I initiated it. Please don’t say anything to anyone. It’s only you and Zayn that know and no one else can. It was my fault, not his.”

Liam just stared at the broken boy in front of him in complete awe. He was still in a sort of shock mode, taking in everything that the other lad was telling him slowly, attempting to work out what to do to aid him. Then it clicked, Zayn knew about this already. He had more time to come to terms with this information. He would be more useful at the moment than Liam was being. Without giving it a second thought, Liam called out for his boyfriend.

Within seconds, Zayn rushed into the living room and over to Liam. “Is everything ok, Li-Li?” Liam wasn’t even able to appreciate Zayn’s affectionate usage of the nickname, his mind too busy with Harry and his… situation. 

Harry answered for him. “I’ve just told Liam about the…incident. Oh and what happened when I spoke to him after our little chat today.”

Hearing the bitter tone in which Harry spoke, Zayn knew the ‘little chat’ had not been a good one. “Oh Harry, I’m sorry. Hey, I’ve got an idea! How about we get completely pissed and forget about stupid Louis Tomlinson, eh?”

—-

Niall and Sophia approached Liam’s home, hand in hand. It was not until they were greeted at the door by an obnoxiously noisy Zayn did they realise something was off. “VAS HAPPENIN’ NIALLERRR?!”

“Zayn, what the fuck? It’s barely gone 7 and you’re already smashed! What’s going on with Liam? I’m sure he would’ve stopped you by now?”

“OH HELLO SOPHIA, how are you this fine evening? What? Oh yeah, the other boys are already inside. It’s a party!” Grabbing one of Niall’s hands, and one of Sophia’s, Zayn dragged the couple into the house.

The two couples and Harry spent the rest of the night getting drunk and having fun with one another. Although Harry’s problems had been temporarily forgotten, there were moments throughout the night where he just felt lonely. Zayn had pounced on Liam upon returning from answering the door, pulling the younger boy in for a passionate make-out session, which had informed Niall and Sophia of their new relationship. At the end of the night, the group of five split into three groups; Niall and Sophia claiming the guest bedroom upstairs, Zayn and Liam taking up Liam’s own bedroom, and Harry opting for the sofa in the living room. That night he fell asleep crying silently to himself. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was crying. It was a combination of the alcohol and not having anyone to spend the night with. Well, it wasn’t exactly that. He didn’t want just anyone to spend the night with, Harry wanted someone he cared about by his side. To cuddle with while occasionally swapping chaste kisses, to protect him from any ‘monsters’ that might be lurking about and to fall asleep whispering sweet nothings to one another. He wanted Louis.

—-

“Mr. Tomlinson, can I have a word?” Liam had allowed himself into Louis’ classroom without knocking, closing the door behind him so they would not be disturbed. He needed to speak with him urgently, and he couldn’t afford any distractions.

“Erm yeah, course you can Liam. What’s this about?” Louis was bewildered by his student’s behaviour but took Liam as a serious lad, so figured something pretty important was on his mind. 

“It’s Harry.”

Louis was right. Upon hearing the name of the curly-haired boy whom he had grown extremely fond of in the past week, Louis’ entire body tensed up. His mouth became impossibly dry, preventing him from replying to the boy in front of him.

“Look, Mr. Tomlinson. I know you’re going to be mad or whatever, but trust me it’s not Harry’s fault. I know about what happened last week between you and him.” Seeing alarm flash across his teacher’s face, Liam hurriedly continued. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to go around and tell anyone. That would hurt Harry just as much as it would hurt you. And I can’t do that to him, especially not at the moment. You hurt him sir, you really really hurt him. He’s told us countless times that ‘it’s not your fault’, and ‘you were looking out for yourself when you ended it’ and even I know Harry’s right. He told me that he initiated the… kiss, but when he came to have a chat with him to clear up what was going on you turned on him. I know that nothing can come of it, and so does he but from what he’s told me, you were a right—forgive my language—twat to him, sir.”

After hearing Liam’s mini-rant to him, the teacher could do nothing but hide his face in shame. Harry was hurting. He was hurting because Louis had been a selfish fucking coward, and the thought of Harry vulnerable and alone at the moment brought an aching longing to Louis’ heart. He wanted desperately to comfort and be with the boy in this time, but knew that his own presence would only cause Harry more pain. Neither of the pair knew exactly what was happening to them at that point. Both had developed a sort of need for the other, having only known each other for a week! It was too much for Louis to handle, and he was supposed to be the adult in that situation, he could barely imagine how Harry was holding up. Not very well, judging by the fact that he hadn’t been to school that day and Liam had just come in to speak with him about it.

“Sir, he’s been holed up in his room all weekend, and he won’t come out for anyone. His sister says he barely comes down for meals anymore, and of course she doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, which is causing her to worry. But we all are—worried I mean. We don’t know what to do with him. And I know this is a lot to ask, believe me, I know but we really are out of options. The lads and I have talked it over and we’ve decided that he might start acting normally again if you could perhaps have a talk with him?” Once again, panic flashed across the older male’s features. “I’m not asking you to get together or anything, god no! I just think you need to apologise for being such a dickhead and set the record straight. Will you do that for us sir, for Harry? Please Mr. Tomlinson?”

Sighing in defeat, Louis wearily nodded his head, which caused a bright smile to erupt on Liam’s face. “Oh thank you, thank you so much, sir. Really, this means a lot to us all. I’ll just go tell the others. You’ll have to go at a time that Gem’s not there so as not to cause suspicion, and we’ll go with you. How about now? I don’t have anything, and neither does Zayn so we can all go together!” 

“Calm down Liam! Look, first of all you cannot be shouting like that about a matter of this sort when anyone can hear you! Secondly, before I go and speak with Harry, you must swear to me you will not tell anyone else about this. Anyone, you understand me, Liam? Not another soul.” Liam nodded fervently. “One last thing before we go. You must tell me who else knows. And you must make them swear to me the same thing.”

“Ok, well it’s just Zayn, Niall and I. Harry hasn’t told anybody else, and neither have we. And I promise you I won’t tell anyone else, and I know the others won’t either. But seriously Mr. Tomlinson, can we just go now please?”

“Oh, alright, alright. Let’s go then. I’ll drive us…” Louis grumbled as he gathered his belongings before following Liam out of his classroom and into the parking lot. By the time Louis had gotten to his car and put his briefcase away, Zayn had bounded out of the school, greeting Liam with a quick kiss before the pair hopped into Louis’ car.

As Louis saw the couple’s exchange, a deep longing built up inside him, and it was then he realised how bad of an idea this was. He couldn’t go anywhere near Harry. But… he had to. Harry was hurting because of him and the thought of that alone was enough to tear him up inside out. He had to set it right. He had to see Harry. He was broken from his thoughts when he heard an awkward cough from the back of his car. Brought back to reality, he realised his situation and that even if he wanted to, it was too late to back out now. He was going to see Harry. Setting the car in ‘drive’, he took off out of the school’s parking lot and down the familiar streets to the Styles’ house.

——

“Harry?!” No reply. “Harry, mate!” Still, nothing. “Harry get your lazy arse down here or we’re coming up and physically dragging you downstairs ourselves.”

“Fuck off, Liam! Just take your boyfriend and get out, leave me here alone to wallow in my self-pity some more.”

Sighing, Liam turned to Louis and spoke in a quieter voice, so as to not let Harry know what he was saying or to whom he had just allowed into the younger boy’s home. “Well, as usual he’s being a prick and I’m sorry but when he’s like this we won’t be able to get anything from him. Unless…” a cheeky smile crossed Liam’s features, “you were to go upstairs and speak to him there?”

As tempting as that sounded, Louis knew he couldn’t. He could not be left alone with Harry in the curly-haired lad’s bedroom. He didn’t trust himself. “I’m sorry Liam, but I really don’t think that would be appropriate, given the… circumstances of this particular situation.”

“Mr. Tomlinson, may I speak freely for a moment?” However, it was not Liam who had posed this question but the darker-skinned boy who had neglected to say anything up until this moment other than secretive whispers to his boyfriend. Louis nodded. “Harry’s a stubborn bastard at the best of times, and right now, although he may joke, he really is consumed with self-pity. He’s terrified of confronting the problem however, for a multitude of reasons, only some of which are validated. And I honestly know nothing about you, but even I can tell that something about him is really bugging you. And you’re too much of a coward to do anything about it. So one of you two really needs to fucking man up and deal with this, before it gets progressively worse.”

Louis’ mouth dropped open at Zayn’s words, partially because he was shocked and quite frankly impressed that a student was able to say this to a teacher, but mostly because Louis realised that what Zayn had said was true. All of it. One hundred percent true. Upon this latest recognition, Louis finally had gained the courage to speed up the small staircase, taking the steps three at a time and barge through into Harry’s bedroom, without even having to be directed to it.

“Fucks sake Liam! I told you to fuck off and leave me the fuck alone you motherfucking cock-muncher! Why are you even here? Why aren’t you with—” Harry broke off when he finally lifted the bedcovers from over his head and looked towards the door, met with a Mr. Tomlinson instead of his mate. 

“Harry,” is all Louis had to breathe out before the younger boy was unable to even remember why he had been angry at his teacher in the first place. “I’m so, so sorry Harry. For everything.” Tears had begun to build up in the older man’s eyes. “You have to believe me, I only said those things because it was the only way I could think to keep myself away from you, because I’m your teacher. I can’t be getting involved with you. But after I heard how much I had hurt you, I realised how fucking stupid I was. Please Harry, you have to forgive me. I didn’t mean it, any of it.”

“Do you promise to never do that to me again? Never speak to me in that way ever again?” Louis nodded his head solemnly. “Then of course I fucking forgive you, you stupid, stupid arse.” Harry leapt out from his bed and crossed the length of the room in a mere two strides before he was able to hold the smaller boy in a covetous embrace.


	11. Chapter 11

Neither boy knew how long they had stood wrapped up in each other, and neither boy cared. Neither wanted to return to the real world—the world where they are unable to acknowledge each other in any way other than teacher and student. The boys had been so engulfed with each other it wasn’t until they heard moaning come from downstairs did they break apart. The two had fake smiles plastered across their faces, both pairs of eyes conveying their true emotion—one of sorrow. They knew they would be able to see each other and be amicable towards one another from now on but that wasn’t what either of them wanted. Even to have become friends would have been too little.

They stood for a moment longer staring into each other’s eyes, faces only inches apart before they heard another particularly loud groan. Breaking out into laughter, Harry grabbed Louis’ wrist and led them both out of his room and down the stairs to interrupt his clueless friends.

However, neither Harry nor Louis was prepared for the scene before them when they entered the small living room. Liam was sprawled out on the sofa, in naught but his boxers while Zayn sat on top of him, wearing only his boxers and trousers. Liam’s neck was covered in small purple and blue love-bites and Zayn’s hair was tousled, sticking up in all directions. 

The boys on the sofa did not hear their teacher or friend enter the room, and remained unaware of the presence of others until they heard a small camera snap-shot. Liam looked up, eyes comically alert and full of panic staring at Harry and Louis as they giggled together from across the room. Zayn had remained rather calm about it all, adjusting his position so he remained sitting on Liam, only this time on his lap so Liam would be able to sit up. He smiled rather shyly to himself, but other than that his face remained unchanged from his casual everyday face. The contrast between the pair was extremely comical to Harry, who took another picture of the two on his phone, while Louis attempted to stop laughing.

“Harry! What are you doing?! Stop taking photos of us now! It’s not fucking funny, you twat!” Realising a teacher was in the room, Liam backtracked. “I mean, it’s not funny…” This only spurred Harry and Louis on until both were clutching at their sides, hanging off one another, tears in their eyes at the expense of a very panicked Liam.

——

None of the boys returned to school that day. Sure, it might have looked rather suspicious, but to be honest none of them particularly cared. Other than Liam. But he had been shamed into silence for the rest of the afternoon when it came to anyone other than Zayn. Harry began to feel slightly remorseful about what he’d done until he went to delete the pictures he had taken, seen how priceless they had been and immediately lost all regret. Of course, he wasn’t going to do anything with them, but found them too hilarious to delete. Maybe he’d show them to Niall later… 

As for Louis, he hadn’t returned either. In fact he had spent the rest of the day with his three students. The school would have his job if they knew, but they didn’t, and none of the boys were about to tell. In all truth, Louis just wanted to spend as much time with Harry as physically possible even if nothing could come of it. He just had to be around the younger lad. Something about him made Louis’ day so much brighter just by him being there. Although the feeling was immensely terrifying to Louis, he found he could not bring himself to care when he was around the boy. Being with Harry made him forget why he couldn’t be there in the first place. Harry made him forget the rest of the world just for the time they spent together. Louis had never experienced anything like it before in his life, and the rational part of his mind told him to get out now before he fell truly and hard in love with this boy, but the rest of his brain told those thoughts to sod off. And that’s exactly what they did, for the time being anyways. 

——

After that afternoon all of the boys spent with their teacher, Harry and Louis had not been alone since for the next couple of weeks. Although both wanted nothing more to spend as much time as possible with the other, both knew they could not trust themselves. As a result, they had done everything in their power to avoid each other outside of class.

That fifty minute class period four days of the week was both the best and worst time of Louis and Harry’s weeks. Although it pained each to see one another, they kept up a light banter within the class, and were able to bond over their favourite subject through assignments set by Mr. Tomlinson. Luckily, no one in the school had caught on to Louis’ affection for that certain curly-haired boy, and if they did no one questioned it. They put it down to Harry being the smartest pupil in that class, and therefore the teacher’s favourite. The two relished their three hours and twenty minutes each week in which they could spend safely in the presence of the person who had been clouding their thoughts since their first meeting.

Just as the pair had been settling into their routine together, accepting that they could not be more than teacher-student and beginning to enjoy what they did have, as all classic tales of love go, it had to go tits-up.

——

“Err Louis? Could I just have a quick word please? It’s rather important.” Louis looked up from grading his Year 13’s latest assignments to see a particularly sheepish looking Gemma. 

“Yeah—yeah course, Gem.” Louis leaned back in his chair, currently ignoring the mass of ungraded papers before him, turning his attention Gemma. He had found that when anything to do with the Styles’ family came up, he would immediately drop everything for it.

“Well, it has to do with Harry actually.” Louis perked up even more, attempting to mask his sudden increase in interest in what Gemma was saying to him.

“Oh, yes?”

“Well, to be perfectly honest he is doing quite badly in school.” Louis’ eyebrows shot up in surprise. Harry was one of his best students, always coming prepared to class, excited to learn, and completing almost all of his homework to that of an exemplary standard. “Actually it’s only really your class he’s doing well in, Lou. I don’t know why, but I think it’s because he feels he can sort of relate to you in a way, you being a young male teacher. I think he looks at you as more of a friend rather than a teacher, and I completely understand if this is too much to ask, feel free to say no, I won’t hold it—”

“Gemma! It’s ok, just ask me before getting worked up about it.” Louis smiled to the older Styles encouragingly, and waited for her to continue. 

“Right, of course. Sorry. Ermm so I know that you did extremely well in college and uni in the other classes that Harry is currently taking, and because he has taken to your teaching methods so well, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind… Could you please…”

“Tutor him?”

“Would you? Please, Louis. He really needs it to stay in this school. And he hasto stay in this school. I could pay you for it, or course.”

“Don’t be stupid, Gem,” Louis began.

“No right, of course, stupid idea. Sorry I asked, it was too much, I’m sor—”

“No, Gemma!” Louis let out a light-hearted laugh. “Of course I’ll help Harry. And of course you don’t have to pay me for it! You both have been so kind to me since I started at this school, and Harry really is a pleasure to teach. I would not mind in the slightest. How about I come ‘round after school today at, say six? I know he has footie practice until five-thirty, so I’m guessing half an hour is a good amount of time?”

“Oh my god yes, thank you so much Louis! That’s perfect. I can’t possibly repay you for this. If you ever need anything, ever, do not hesitate to ask me.” Gemma let out a little squeal as she quickly closed the gap between her and Louis, giving him a brief hug of gratitude. 

When she let go, Louis gave her a quiet, “See you tonight then,” as Gemma left the room muttering ‘thank you’s’ over her shoulder. However, it wasn’t until she had left did he realise just what he had gotten himself into. Louis had to go to Harry’s home again tonight to give him a private tutoring session. Shit.

——

Gemma hadn’t told her brother of her plans to set him up with his own tutor until he returned from football practice that afternoon, a little after 5:30. He was immediately thrown into a state of panic. Harry stunk, was drenched in his own sweat and mud, and wore a dirtied football kit. He bolted upstairs, and into the shower as fast as he could. Quickly he washed and conditioned his hair (how else could those curls look so flawless every day), before jumping out the shower and into his bedroom.

Glancing at the alarm clock on his bedside table, he realised he had less than ten minutes before Louis was due to arrive. Hastily, Harry rummaged through his closet trying to find something suitable to wear in this situation. Despite himself, heneeded to look good for Louis. Finally, he settled on a casual t-shirt from All Saints with a pair of his signature skinny jeans and plain white socks on his feet. Giving himself a quick once-over in the mirror, he flattened out his clothing, running his hands through his wet hair and flicked it to the side, out of his face.

Looking back over at the time, Harry saw that it had just gone six, meaning Louis was supposed to be arriving any second now. As if on cue, a succinct brrrring of the doorbell interrupted the young boy’s thoughts, and he jogged down the stairs to greet Mr. Tomlinson.

Passing through the foyer, he saw a note scrawled in what he recognised as his sister’s handwriting stuck to the mirror by the front door. Un-tacking it from the mirror, he took it with him as he opened the door to see a timid Louis on the other side. 

He was still dressed in his school attire, only with a black winter coat and scarf settled on top. His black-rimmed glasses rested atop his nose that, along with his cheeks, had turned a ruddy colour due to the biting cold winter air. He was absolutely adorable. To Harry, there really was no other way of describing him.

The two stood staring at each other for a few moments before Harry thought to step aside, allowing Louis into his home again. Louis smiled warmly towards Harry at the invitation and graciously accepted, shivering a little at the temperature shift as he passed the threshold. Harry closed the door behind Louis, and while his teacher enjoyed the warmth of the home for a moment, he quickly skimmed over the note his sister had written to him.

‘Harry, I’ve had to pop out for a little—emergency at mum’s work. She needs an extra pair of hands tonight. Tell Mr. Tomlinson I’m sorry I couldn’t be there tonight and make sure to thank him again for agreeing to tutor you. I won’t be back until quite late, so don’t stay up for me. Have fun ;)’

Harry sighed to himself. Well that was fucking brilliant. Really fucking fantastic. He was now left alone in his house all night with his teacher who he was hopelessly infatuated with. Thanks Gem, this was going to be tons of fun…


	12. Chapter 12

“So… I’m really sorry Louis, but Gemma’s had to step out for a while. My mum needs some extra help at work, so she won’t be back until later. She said thank you again for helping me, but I understand if this is too awkward to do. If you’d like, you can leave now and we can forget about this tutoring.”

“No, no, I’m fine with it. Unless… you think it’s too awkward? I would hate to make you uncomfortable Harry, considering the circumstances.”

“Oh god, no. It’s fine, completely forgotten.” Both boys knew that was a blatant lie. “Ok, well shall we work through here then? In the kitchen? That way we can be close to the snacks if we get hungry.” Harry flashed his teacher a grin before leading the way into the small kitchen.

Harry placed his books on the small table in the corner of the room, gesturing to Louis to take a seat before crossing the room headed toward the fridge. “Would you like anything to drink, sir? Or anything to eat?”

“Some type of juice, if you have any please? Any type is fine, just as long as it’s juice.” Louis replied without looking at Harry, already feeling the want for the younger boy coming through, after being alone with him less than five minutes. How he was going to survive the rest of the night, Louis had no clue.

A few moments later, Harry sauntered across the room holding a glass of orange juice for Louis, and a purple bottle of Fruit Shoot for himself. Setting the glass in front of Louis, he sat down in his own seat and placed his bottle on the counter beside him.

“So, Harry. Where would you like to start?”

——

The two boys soon settled into their strange situation and soon both were able to concentrate fully on the work in front of them, instead of how they wanted to pounce on the other boy every other second. They kept on working and joking around together for a while, until Harry’s stomach rumbled. He realised he hadn’t eaten that night yet and looking at his watch, noticed that it was already 7:30. “You hungry, sir?”

“Absolutely starving, Harry. And I thought I told you to stop calling me ‘sir’!”

“Sorry, sir. I just can’t help myself.” Harry shot him a cheeky wink before reaching across Louis to pick up the other boy’s mobile which had been placed on the table some while ago. Harry proceeded to dial a number he knew all too well, after only living there for not even two months, and ordering a large pepperoni pizza for the two to share. After giving the person on the other end his address, and being informed it would be delivered in twenty minutes, Harry hung up, satisfied smile on his face.

At some point when Harry had been ordering their pizza, Louis had become obsessed with watching the younger boy’s every move. He was too distracted by the charming little changes in facial expression that he failed to notice Harry playing around with his mobile until he lifted it up to take a picture.

“Harry… why are you taking a selfie on my mobile?”

“Oh no reason, sir. Just making some much needed improvements to your phone.” Harry tapped away at the phone for a few more moments before locking it and placing it back in its original place beside Louis on the table-top.

Louis frowned, glancing at the phone but chose not to play into Harry’s antics and instead turned back to studying. To his surprise, he received no protests from his student as they carried on working. They kept focused on Harry’s work, at least until the pizza got delivered.

When Harry had gotten up to answer the doorbell, Louis quickly ran to the bathroom he knew to be down the corridor and locked the door after him. He washed his sweaty palms and fixed his hair up as best he could. He removed his glasses from his face, tucking them in his pocket and took in a few much-needed deep breaths. Being around the younger boy had turned Louis into an anxious self-conscious teenager again, and he did not like it one bit. Playing with his hair for a few more moments, before deciding that it really wasn’t going to get any better, Louis exited the bathroom and went back into the kitchen. However, Harry was not there. Louis called out to him and was almost instantly replied to. Harry had gone into the living room with the pizza, forgetting work for the time being.

Harry had stretched himself out on the sofa and turned on the TV to Channel 4 where re-runs of ‘The Inbetweeners’ were playing. The large pizza box sat on Harry’s lap and Louis watched in amusement for a moment as Harry attempted to shove a massive portion of the pizza into his mouth in one go. He then crossed the room and plopped himself down on the sofa next to Harry, leaning over to grab a slice of the pizza and began eating.

The two sat through three episodes of the show while eating, laughing and chatting about everyday things in their lives together. Despite what they might have thought, the whole evening had been far from awkward and the boys found that they truly enjoyed each other’s company. They discovered that they had a lot in common, and got on far better than most people did. That night, the teacher/student barrier had broken down completely, and neither Louis nor Harry seemed to care in the slightest.

——

Much later that evening, Louis looked down to his phone and realised the time. It was almost midnight. And it was a school night. Louis should really be getting home and allowing Harry and himself to get a good night’s sleep. He stood up, loosening up his stiff joints after being sat in the same position for a long time.

“Well Harry, I’m sorry, I’d best be going. It’s getting really late and your mum and sister will be home soon. Thank you so much for a lovely evening though, this was a lot of fun. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Louis turned to excuse himself from the house before he felt that familiar hand latch onto his own.

“No! Lou, please. Don’t go. I hate being by myself. Please. Just stay here for the night? Not like that!” He quickly added as Louis raised an eyebrow. “Just…you’re a good mate. Mates stay over at each other’s for the night, right? Right. So, stay?”

Harry released his harsh grip on the other boy’s hand, but kept them joined. Louis nibbled his bottom lip, deep in thought. He couldn’t stay, could he? Harry was right, mates did stay over at each other’s houses. So what was wrong with him staying again? Oh yeah cos he was Harry’s teacher, not his mate. He couldn’t. Just as Louis opened his mouth to give the awaiting boy his reply, he felt a hot pressure against his lips.

Recognising that feeling immediately, Louis subconsciously returned the gesture, kissing Harry back. Noting that he had not been rejected, Harry dared to swipe his tongue across Louis’ lip, and again Louis complied almost instantaneously. He opened his mouth a crack and Harry took his chance, plunging his tongue into the other boy’s mouth. Louis did not try to gain any kind of control over this situation, just allowing Harry to explore his mouth for the time being. Before he knew what was happening however, Harry had pushed Louis down onto the sofa and was straddling him. At this sudden realisation, Louis pushed the younger boy away.

“No, Haz. I’m sorry. We can’t.” Louis got to stand up, but Harry’s muscular legs held the smaller boy in place below him.

“Who says we can’t Louis? Fucks sake, it’s not like you’re forty years old or something. You’ve just graduated uni! And I’m not young either, I’m in college. I know what I want, and I can make my own decisions. And I’ve decided that I want you.” Harry made to kiss Louis again, but the older boy held Harry’s face from his own by pushing against his chest.

“But Harry… I’m your teacher. I’m not supposed to be doing this.”

“Ok firstly, you’re not that much older than I am even though you are a teacher. Secondly, just think how fucking hot teacher/student role-play is. Thirdly, a secretive relationship will be full of spontaneous surprises and again, is just fucking sexy. And lastly, rules are supposed to be broken, Lou.” Harry’s voice was husky and barely above a whisper, but Louis heard every single word.

With that, Louis had had it and re-connected their lips once more in a passionate frenzy. The pair kissed and grinded hips for several more minutes before breaking apart for air. Harry rested his forehead against Louis’ before looking into his eyes, a devilish smirk playing on his lips.

“So, we’re really doing this Louis? Seeing each other, I mean. Because if this is all a tease right now…”

“No, Haz, I could never tease you like this. Well in all honesty, this is probably the stupidest idea of my life considering my whole future as a teacher is at stake right now, but as crazy as this sounds, I think it’s worth it. You’re worth it.” Harry gazed at Louis for a few moments before Louis continued. “As long as this is all ok with you, cos you know I don’t want to be making you uncomfortable in any way. If you want me to stop at any point, just tell me and I will. If you want to break this off, as miserable as that would make me, I just want you to know that you can. And there will be no hard feelings, I promise. Because I don’t want to be—“

The rest of Louis’ rambling speech was lost as Harry collided his lips to Louis’ for the third time that night.


	13. Chapter 13

“BEEP BEEP BEEP,” went Harry’s alarm. Groaning, Harry just buried his face further into his pillow, attempting to block out the hideous reminder that he had school in an hour. “BEEP BEEP BEEP,” it went again. Still refusing to open his eyes, Harry attempted to turn over, but was hindered by two strong arms wrapped around his torso. Suddenly, last night’s events came flooding back to him. Last night, with Louis.

The pair had kept it all extremely innocent, doing nothing but making out and whispering soft nothings to one another on the sofa. That is until Gemma and Anne had returned home. Harry and ushered his teacher up the stairs and told him to hide in his room until the coast was clear. His mum had chosen that night to be chatty and the boy had stayed for another half hour downstairs with her until she had finally gone to bed. As soon as she was gone, Harry has sprinted back up to his room to find Louis asleep in his bed. He had looked like an innocent young child and Harry, despite his rational side screaming at him to do the opposite, Harry had climbed into his bed next to the man and snuggled down into his side.

As Louis clung to him, Harry couldn’t help pressing back against his warm body. Louis pressed his face into the crook of Harry’s neck for a few more moments before he suddenly started. Releasing the younger boy’s torso, Louis sat straight up and turned to Harry with a terrified look of shock splayed across his face. He stared at Harry for a good minute or so like that while Harry began to regret every decision he had made last night. He had ruined it. Ruined any sort of relationship with this amazing man by being too forward and forcing him into an unwanted romantic relationship.

However, Louis’ features suddenly relaxed as he too recounted the events of last night in his mind. He gave Harry a lop-sided grin, which Harry reciprocated. The two boys were soon in a fit of giggles, laughing at the absurdity of it all. And it didn’t help that Louis’ hair was stuck up at all angles, making him look rather like a startled owl of sorts.

Suddenly, Anne’s voice rang through the house, breaking the pair from their laughing fit and back into harsh reality. “Harry, breakfast’s ready!” 

“Shit!” Harry hissed. “Shit, shit, shit. Erm Louis, you’re gonna have to hide… NOW!”

Louis’ eyes had flown wide open in panic, as he stood motionless in the middle of Harry’s bedroom, still in a state of complete shock. “Erm yeah… yeah hide.” Louis soon jumped back into action as he began searching for quality hiding places around the younger lad’s bedroom. Under the bed? No, that would never work. Louis may have been small but he wasn’t tiny. In the closet? It was a pretty obvious spot if anyone had been looking for him, but no one was, so he figured it was his best bet. Sliding himself into the wardrobe that stood in the back corner of the room, he settled down amongst Harry’s clothes. 

“Harry, did you hear me? I said breakfast’s ready! Are you coming?”

“Yeah mum, be right there!” Harry hesitated at the door to his room, looking back and making sure all signs of company had disappeared before opening the door and bounding down the stairs. He planned to get this breakfast over and done with in as little time as possible before going back up to spend some time with Louis before school. And, of course, to help him plan an escape from his house.

“Good morning, sweetie.” Anne greeted her son with a large smile and brief embrace. “How was last night?”

“Last night…” Harry suddenly panicked, surely his mother couldn’t know. 

“Yeah, last night. You know, the tutoring session you had with Louis?” Gemma interjected as she waltzed into the kitchen to join the rest of her family.

“Oh, right. Yeah it was… good.”

“You alright, love? You seem a bit off it this morning.” Anne placed a caring hand on her son’s forehead, checking for signs of sickness.

“Yeah mum, I’m fine. Just… late night and all.” Harry needed to calm down and stop being so on edge. His mother and sister weren’t stupid, they knew when something was up. And they couldn’t find out about Louis. So, Harry did his best at becoming his usual carefree self once again as he sat down to breakfast with the two women in his life.

About fifteen minutes later, his mum had finally excused him from the table and he dashed back up the stairs to retrieve Louis. “Lou… you can come out now, it’s just me.” Harry stage-whispered throughout the room, and was met with only silence. “Lou?” He stated slightly louder. “Louis?” He had returned to his normal voice now, eager to gain a reply from his teacher. Still, nothing.

Crossing the room, he flung open the door to his wardrobe and was greeted with the most adorable thing he had ever witnessed. Louis was curled up amongst his shoes and sweaters, head leaning against the side of the wardrobe fast asleep. Harry stood for a moment, taking in the sight and grinning stupidly towards the older boy. Realising he had to wake him up at some point, Harry decided it was best to now, before someone else had the chance to barge in on the pair. Harry extended his arm out towards the sleeping beauty before quickly retracting it. He had a better idea. Slowly, he leaned forwards until his face was millimeters from Louis’, and he was able to breathe in all that was Louis. The familiar intoxicating aroma that followed the older boy everywhere he went. Unable to resist the temptation further, Harry leaned forward even further, gently pushing his lips against Louis’ in a chaste kiss. He kept his lips pressed against Louis’ until he felt a small pressure being returned against his lips. Breaking the kiss, Harry began to place delicate kisses against Louis’ jawline, relishing the scratching feeling of the stubble against his lips. 

“Haz…” Louis moaned softly at the contact, which caused Harry to smile against the older boy’s skin. Flicking his tongue out, Harry began to lick down the underside of Louis’ jaw and the top of his neck, eliciting another sweet moan from Louis. “Harry.” Chuckling, Harry pulled back from Louis and was met with an intense glare from the most gorgeous crystal blue eyes. 

“Good morning, Mr. Tomlinson.”

“Good morning, Harry.”

The pair remained staring at one another a few more moments, until they both broke out into massive grins. They just sat with each other, Louis still in Harry’s wardrobe, Harry seated directly in front of it, laughing at nothing really for an unknown amount of time. They were content with just being with one another in that moment, and neither wanted to be the first to break it, to be the first to bring them back into the cruel real world. However, neither of them had to.

“Harry! Come on, we’re going to be late!” Gemma’s voice called out to him from somewhere downstairs.

“Uh, yeah Gem. I’m on my way!” Hurriedly, Harry jumped up and began to pull on his school uniform from the day before. However, he paused in the middle of pulling his shirt on, feeling a set of eyes following his every move. Turning round, he was proved right as there sat Louis glaring at the younger boy’s body. Subconsciously, Louis was licking at his lips, as if imagining what Harry would taste like. If it had been anyone else, Harry would have been extremely creeped out. But it was Louis, and to be honest he found the entire thing really sexy. Harry took more time as he buttoned up his school shirt, eyes on Louis the entire time. Louis’ eyes were still directed toward his torso, watching Harry’s fingers at work.

“Harry, where the fuck are you?” Suddenly, footsteps from outside his door became audible and both boys were thrown back into motion. Harry spun around, grabbing the rest of his school things, while Louis slammed the wardrobe door shut from the inside, where he still took refuge.

Swinging Harry’s door open, Gemma saw the nervousness oozing out of her younger brother, and narrowed her eyes at him. Doing a quick sweep round the room with her eyes, she noticed nothing amiss, and acknowledging the fact they were both still running very late, chose to ignore her younger brother’s peculiar behaviour. Instead, she reached forwards, pulling him by the arm out his room, downstairs, out the house, and into the car. She then proceeded to speed out of its parking spot in front of their house and set off towards Brickhouse.

Back in the house, Louis let out a sigh of relief as he heard the car taking off from outside. Cautiously, he cracked open the wardrobe door and gathered his bag which had been left beside Harry’s bed the night before. Then, noticing he was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, decided that might look a little suspect. No one would have any way in connecting that to Harry, of course, but Louis really didn’t care. He already knew how he could change his clothes, and really he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to do so. Nevermind how risky it might be.

——

Harry arrived to school ten minutes before the first bell went off, thanks to Gemma’s crazy driving. He made a mental note to either never be late for school again, or if he was to never get in a car while running late, when Gemma seated behind the wheel. Relieved to have made it past that ordeal with his life, he trudged into the building and set off to find his mates. Upon entering the common room, he saw Niall in a heated discussion about something or other with Liam. Zayn was sat beside Liam, arm slung lazily around his boyfriend’s shoulder.

The two arguing didn’t notice Harry as he entered the room, but Zayn sure as hell did. Not only did he notice the curly-haired lad’s presence, he was also sly enough to notice the slight glint in Harry’s eye. As Harry took a seat next to Zayn on the sofa, the Bradford boy leaned in close to whisper in his ear. “Someone got fucked last night, then?”

Harry felt an immediate blush rising up his cheeks as he tried to suppress the images of him and Louis fucking that suddenly began to cloud his mind. “No, actually. We didn’t have sex.” Harry replied, maybe a little louder than he should have as it seemed to have broken Liam and Niall out of their little bubble and both turned toward Harry.

“What’s this about Harry not fucking someone?” Niall piped up, cheeky grin splayed across his face.

“Don’t you worry about it, Nialler.” Harry stated before the warning bell rang throughout the building, and he was able to shoot up out of his seat and head towards his first class.

“Wait up, Haz. I’ll come with.” Zayn stood up, before placing a sloppy kiss to Liam’s check and following after the younger boy. Shit, Harry forgot that he actually had to go to classes with the twats he called his friends, who were no doubt going to be constantly teasing Harry throughout the day. Great.

——

To Harry, history class could not come fast enough. He had been dying to see Louis again since he had let him alone in his room that morning. Harry didn’t even try to hide it as he dragged Liam by the wrist from their previous class and almost sprinted down the corridor towards Louis’ classroom in an attempt to get there as quick as possible without being too obvious. He was failing miserably, and he really just couldn’t bring himself to care.

As Harry entered the classroom, he was not prepared for the sight before him. There was Louis, looking as fuck-able as ever, only today he had decided to come dressed in a collection of Harry’s clothing. He wore one of Harry’s simple button down shirts, with Harry’s favourite pair of skinny jeans and even one of his signature blazers. Below the blazer however, Harry noted Louis’ customary suspenders, and on his feet his own pair of toms. Seeing Louis stood there, blatantly wearing Harry’s clothing to tease him, made Harry’s blood boil. First with anger at Louis for taunting him, then anger at himself for falling into that trap so easily. And lastly, the emotion that stuck with him throughout the rest of that class period, total lust.


	14. Chapter 14

“Errm Mr. Tomlinson, can I speak to you about this last assignment?” Harry approached his teacher’s desk as soon as the bell signalling the end of class had gone off. Liam had gone ahead without him, either realising Harry needed some alone time with Louis after class or to find his new boyfriend-Harry didn’t know but he didn’t really care either. All Harry cared about was the fact that he had spent the better part of the last hour in a classroom with Louis dressed in Harry’s clothes, and that classroom was now rapidly emptying.

“Yes, Harry what is it you wished to speak to me about?”

Harry waited for a few more moments until the stragglers had emptied out of the room before responding. Instead of answering Louis’ question, Harry jumped around the desk and began attacking Louis mouth with his own. Alarmed, Louis pushed Harry off of himself. “Harry, you can’t just do that! Not here at least.”

Harry pouted at his teacher, causing the older man to let out a deep chuckle. “But Louisss,” Harry whined, “you can’t just show up to school dressed in my clothes and not expect me to go absolutely mental. You look so hot right now.” Louis just smirked. “You absolute twat, you did it on purpose! You really are an evil little fucker, you know that?”

“Well to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to get that reaction. And I might just start stealing your clothes more often it it gets that sort of reaction. I could feel you staring at me the entire lesson, you know? Not exactly being discreet, are we?”

Harry took a step closer to Louis and allowed his voice to become husky as he whispered into his ear. “Well how would you like me to bend you over this desk right now and fuck you, how’s that for being discreet?” Louis let out a small moan of desire as he felt the younger boy’s hot breath roll down his neck. Harry did not fail to notice his reaction, and allowed a grin to overtake his face at the realisation of just how quickly he could get the other boy hot and bothered. “Oh you sick bastard, you’d actually like me to.”

Harry leaned forwards again in an attempt to recapture Louis’ lips with his own. Pressing on Harry’s chest, Louis prevented the kiss. “Not here Harry, not when anyone could barge in. It’s too risky.”

“I thought you liked ‘risky’,” Harry responded in the same husky tone. That tipped Louis over the edge, as he grabbed on to the front of Harry’s shirt and hungrily pulled him in.

——

Outside the classroom, Liam was trying his best to keep Gemma at bay. God only knew what those two got up to when alone, and Liam thought it best to not allow Harry’s sister to barge through the door when anything could be happening on the other side.

“Miss Styles, I just need to ask you something…” Liam stood in front of the door to the classroom, using his body as a barricade.

Gemma sighed. “Yes, Liam what is it?” Liam paused, racking his brains as to what he would need to be asking her. Nothing about art-he didn’t take it and he was absolutely terrible at it. “Come on Liam, I don’t have all day.” Still no response. She began to push past the boy in her attempt to see Louis, but was blocked by the young boy.

“Erm right, I was… I was wondering if you’d… Like to go to dinner with me?” Liam cringed inwardly at his crap question. Gemma rolled her eyes at him.

“What?”

Liam figured he might as well play along with it, once he’d started. “Would you like to come to dinner with me? And Harry as well…”

“Liam I don’t think I need to tell you how wrong that is, for starters I’m a teacher at your school, not to mention the massive age gap. And—”

She was cut off by Zayn coming up next to Liam, placing a territorial arm around his waist and a sweet kiss on his cheek for extra measure. Liam’s cheeks burned bright red, a mixture of embarrassment and affection. “What’s up, babe?”

“Errm…..”

“And not to mention the fact that you’d much rather take Zayn to dinner. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

In the panicked and defeated state Liam was in now, she had no trouble pushing the two boys out the way and turning the door handle. “Don’t…” Liam feebly attempted, but it was too late. Gemma had already swung open the door and stepped into the room. The sight she was met with made her sick to her stomach.

Louis was sat on his desk, Harry stood in-between his legs whereas Louis’ were wrapped around Harry’s torso. The pair were locked in a passionate kiss, Harry’s hands placed on the older boy’s waist as he toyed with the hem on his shirt, and Louis’ hands fisted through Harry’s curls. Hearing someone enter the room, the two sprung apart, but the damage had already been done. Gemma had seen everything.

“Gem…” Harry’s eyes were blown open wide, and his heart was hammering in his chest harder than he thought was possible, without it breaking through his chest. Fear surged throughout his entire being, and his eyes flew from his sister to the boy beside him. Louis avoided all eye contact with both Harry and Gemma, choosing to stare down toward the ground as he collected himself off of his desk, failing at trying to re-tuck in his shirt.

“What is going on here? What the hell, Harry? What is wrong with you? You’re disgusting!” Turning towards Louis, “And you… don’t even get me started on you. I could have your job for this, Louis.” Gemma began to stride across the room towards the shamed teacher. “You’re a sick, sick bastard, you know that? What makes you think you can just fuck around with my younger brother.” Turning back towards Harry. “What’s he offering you in return, huh? What are you getting for this, Harry?!” Her tone was both threatening and demanding towards both boys.

“Nothing, Gem, please just listen…”

“No, Harry. Stop trying to defend this pathetic excuse for a teacher.” Turning back on Louis. “What makes you think you can get away with pressuring my younger brother, your student into this? He’s only a child, you shit!” Gemma approached Louis further, raising up her hand as if to slap Louis, but Harry moved in front of his sister, taking the blow. Gemma’s hand soon made contact with Harry’s face, leaving a reverberating slapping noise occupying the room. Louis stood behind the younger boy, who had his arms wrapped around Louis from in front, horror and awe displayed across his features. Harry looked no more than hurt at his sister’s words and actions.

Upon realising what she had actually done, instead of what she had just intended, Gemma’s own face resembled one similar to Harry’s, only with resentment mixed in. Her voice turned to one of a soft pleading. “Harry…” Harry kept his face turned away from Gemma, toward the ground as he attempted to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over his eyes. “Harry, I’m sorry. Just… you’ve got to understand where I’m coming from. Please, just listen to me. Just come and speak with me. Leave this piece of filth-“

“NO! He’s not filth. Don’t you ever dare call him that again.”

“Harry, maybe she’s right…”

“No, Louis. She is most certainly not right. I admit, this relationship is fucked up beyond belief, but I also admit that I care about you. And no one can try to convince me otherwise, no one. And if you can’t accept that, then I’d appreciate if you just go home and not speak to me until you come to your senses. Can’t you see neither of us would do something so stupid and full of risks unless we actually cared about each other? We both have too much to lose.”

“But Harry… this is just wrong.”

“You’re wrong Gemma. Now I suggest you leave.”

“Harry!”

“Leave, Gemma. Now!”

Gemma looked between her brother and colleague before realising she was not going to make it anywhere with the pair of them. With a huff, she turned on her heel and fled from the classroom. Outside she spotted a sheepish looking Liam and Zayn, who had quite obviously heard every word of their exchange. Giving them a look of disgust, she continued down the corridor, only one destination in mind. If Harry wasn’t going to hear her out, she’d just find someone who would. Without a moment’s hesitation, she wiped away the tears which had begun to form and strode with confidence down different corridors and up one staircase until she reached the door labeled in intimidating and authoritative letters ‘Headmaster’.


	15. Chapter 15

”I’m sure I don’t need to inform you just how serious these allegations are, Ms. Styles. You do fully understand what you are accusing Mr. Tomlinson of? And all of the repercussions that will go along with such an accusation.” Gemma took a deep breath in and nodded. She needed to get that creep away from her influential younger brother. “Right…” The headmaster sighed. He really didn’t want to have to fire the young teacher, as much distaste as he held for the boy, the man couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret. As far as he knew, Gemma could have fabricated the entire thing, and Louis’ career would be ruined, along with a loss in respect and a harsh blow to his dignity. The headmaster mulled over his possible options for a few more minutes in silence while Gemma remained across from him, nervous but determined.

Finally, he seemed to come to a decision, rubbing his thumb and index finger of his right hand across his eyes, and settling back into his chair. “Well, Ms. Styles, I’d like to have a word with both boys in question here, individually of course, before I make any rash decisions. I will send for them both immediately and until further notice, Harry is to not return to Mr. Tomlinson’s class. I will arrange for another of the history teachers to assist him to ensure that he does not fall behind in school work. Thank you for coming to see me about this, Gemma.”

Gemma didn’t look entirely satisfied with the conclusion, but at least Harry would be kept away from Louis for the time being, and vice versa. She didn’t want her little brother anywhere near that disgusting man who was doing god know’s what with him. Forcing him into something he didn’t really want. Taking advantage of Harry at such a vulnerable stage in his life, both age-wise and in light of recent events that had traumatised their family. Making him think he was gay. Harry wasn’t gay. He couldn’t be. It was all Mr. Tomlinson’s doing. And for that, Gemma loathed the man.

——

“Come in,” the headmaster’s intimidating voice answered Harry’s gentle knocks. He had been pulled out of class first thing the next morning, and he knew it had to do with Gemma walking in on them the previous afternoon. She had not spoken a word to him all night, and he had not even seen her that morning. He thought it was just because she was disgusted by him and his actions, but now he realised it probably had more to do with guilt. “Ah, Mr. Styles, please sit down.” The headmaster looked up at him, gesturing to one of the two leather armchairs situated in front of his desk.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Right, Harry. Well, this matter is quite a delicate one. Now, you’re not in trouble for anything but there are certain things involving you and a teacher at this school, which have been brought to my attention. Before we begin talking, I am obliged to ask if there is anyone you would like to join us for this talk, to make you feel more comfortable perhaps? Such as your advisor, or even your sister?” If he hadn’t already come to understand what this was about, Harry would’ve been able to work it out right then. Gemma had actually spoken to the fucking headmaster about it. She had actually tattled on the couple. On her own brother. Noticing the head was still awaiting his response, Harry firmly shook his head. No one else needed to know about this. Louis had already been disgraced enough.

“Now Harry, are you absolutely sure? There is no one you’d like to sit in with you for this chat? Not even a mate?”

“No sir, I’d rather have this talk alone. Now, if you wouldn’t mind telling me what this pertains to, please?” Harry decided it was best to play dumb. To deny all allegations. He didn’t want to give Gemma the satisfaction, he didn’t want to get in trouble or make it known that he was gay, and most of all he didn’t want Louis to be hurt in any way because of him. Not when he could easily save his reputation with a few simple white lies.

“Alright, well it has been brought to my attention that you are… shall we say involved with Mr. Tomlinson?”

“…Involved, sir?” Harry really was taking advantage of this whole ‘dumb’ act.

“Yes, involved. As in, in a relationship.”

Harry’s eyebrows shot up at this. “Wh-what? Me… and Mr. Tomlinson?” He outright laughed in the head’s face. “You’ve got to be joking, he’s my history teacher and he tutors me a little due to my sister’s request but nothing more, I can assure you. Not to mention the mister part of that whole statement. I’m not gay, sir.” Harry pretended as though he was stifling his giggles throughout his denial. Anything to make sure the head believed Harry thought even the idea of the whole thing was outrageously ridiculous and absolutely hilarious.

“….Right. Because we have a reliable source claiming to have seen you two…together. I’d like you to think for a moment longer before responding. If Mr. Tomlinson is pressuring you into anything, you just need to say and we will keep him far away from you, he won’t be able to harm you. Even if you believe he is not pressuring you into anything and that this relationship is what you want, I can assure you he is using his power as a teacher in such a way to manipulate you into believing this is what you want. Don’t be afraid, Harry. We can protect you, if this is the case. Now, tell me again. Are you and Mr. Tomlinson revolved in a romantic relationship?”

At that Harry roared with laughter. He began clutching at his sides at the very notion of it all. Him, afraid of Louis? Louis that wouldn’t hurt a fly and that was smaller than him in height and build? Louis who wore toms on a daily basis, followed by skinny jeans and feminine shirts, all accented by his feathered hair? The Louis that Harry was able to gain dominance over with just the right look sent in his direction? Yeah, cos he’d definitely be able to intimidate Harry. 

“Sir, I really don’t know where you’re getting this information but I can assure you that this whole thing is just preposterous and completely untrue.” Harry managed to gasp out once he had managed to conclude his laughing fit. 

——

“Ah, Mr. Tomlinson, have a seat.” Louis awkwardly shuffled into the headmaster’s plush office, feeling very much like a teenage boy at school again. He had always been a bit of a troublemaker growing up, and he had grown all too familiar with weekly visits to the head. However, this time it was different. This time he was an adult, not a child. And this time it wasn’t just being grounded or a few detentions or possible suspensions that he could receive, no this time his whole life could be demolished. The outcome of this meeting could leave Louis jobless, without a career option for his future, and without Harry. He really didn’t know what was worse, losing the young boy or losing everything he had worked for right at the start, leaving him without a future. That is why Louis had walked to the meeting when he had been called with trepidation. Now that he was there, that fearfulness had not left him.

“Well, Mr. Tomlinson, I’m sure you’ve already been made aware of the accusations against you.” Louis gulped, causing pain in his already dry throat. “Well, I should tell you that Mr. Styles has denied all of these allegations brought against the pair of you.” Louis had to stop himself from letting out a telling sigh of relief. Instead, he gave a curt nod, motioning for the head to continue. “Now, I will ask you to be honest here. Have you engaged in any sort of relationship with Harry that is not strictly student-teacher oriented?”

“No sir, I have not. Harry is merely my student whom I have also tutored by request of his sister, but nothing more.” Louis surprised himself by the calmness of his voice, almost not believing it was him that had given such an answer.

“Well, if you both are denying this to be true, and we have only had one complaint about this from, I’ll be honest, not an extremely reliable source, you are off the hook. Well, sort of.” Louis raised his eyebrows in question. “Your class period which has Mr. Styles in it will now be monitored by another member of staff until further notice, and if the boy has any queries beyond class, he should speak to another teacher we have assigned him. This is just a precaution, mind. Just until we can ensure what you have both told us to be true, and to be perfectly honest, in order to prevent a scandal.” The headmaster studied the young teacher for a moment more before turning back to the papers laid across his desk. “You are dismissed.”

“Th-thank you, sir.” Louis had to refrain from bolting out of the office, relief washing over him. He couldn’t believe it! This school was actually so worried about keeping up a perfect image that they were too worried about a possible scandal to actually take proper measures in matters such as these. However, Louis was not complaining. Far from it. He felt a rush of adrenaline as he darted back down the corridor, brain instantly telling him to search out the curly-haired lad to thank him. Suddenly, Louis stopped fast in his tracks, as realisation crashed over him. He was to be monitored at all times around Harry, and he knew he wouldn’t get the chance to talk to him outside of class, not with Gemma around, and someone else replacing Louis as Harry’s go-to person for history. He may have been able to keep his job and his dignity pretty much intact, but he had lost one thing in this whole mess. Who was he kidding, he had lost everything in this mess. He had lost Harry.


	16. Chapter 16

”Ok, so this essay will be worth fifteen percent of your final grade this year and counts for your final exam at the end of this term. It is the first of the three large essay assignments for this year, and they will all be due at the end of a term. Does anyone have any more questions before I let you go?” Louis was supposed to be addressing his entire class, but he could not help his eyes from wandering back to that same seat in the front of his classroom. Back to that goofy curly-haired kid with a grin lighting up his entire face for the short period of time the pair were allowed to see each other during the day. However, even this little time was tainted. They were surrounded by about nineteen other teenagers and a ‘minder’ who sat at the back of the classroom, watching the couple’s interaction. She had been assigned to basically check that Louis wasn’t some paedophile praying on his students, and more specifically, Harry. 

A rather plump boy from the back of the class raised his hand. Louis felt bad for the boy, he was always alone and although he wasn’t very bright, he was always cheerful. Louis wished he could be like that. Alone and happy. Although, deep down Louis knew that this boy probably wasn’t happy. He probably overate to compensate for that lonely feeling inside of him and was most likely babied by his mother, or perhaps his dad as well. That was something Louis definitely didn’t want. “Yes, Bert?” He called on the boy.

“Erm yeah well… when does it have to be done by, sir?” He stuttered out. Bert never was good at forming coherent sentences.

“When is it due, do you mean?” Bert nodded his chubby head. “Well, the deadline is the last day of this term. So that is the… 16th of December, I do believe.” Once again, Bert nodded his head before hunching over to scribble the date down in his open notebook.

While the rest of his class was taking in this sudden onslaught of information which always came with being assigned a new project, he took his chance to steal a glance at Harry. Unlike his classmates who were either reading over the assignment sheets or taking advantage of the pause in Louis’ lecturing to chat with each other, Harry remained staring at his teacher. It it had been one of his other students, it would have made Louis feel self-conscious and uncomfortable, but it was Harry. His Harry. And to be honest, he kind of loved it. 

Slowly, Harry’s full lips began to curve up into a slight and knowing smirk at having gained his teacher’s full attention. Louis was about to reciprocate the boy’s gesture until he felt another person’s eyes boring into his skull. Dragging his eyes away from the curly-haired lad, he saw the minder suddenly paying very close attention to the teacher. Shit. He had to make sure she didn’t suspect anything, and here he was staring at the one person he was supposed to be avoiding. And judging by Harry’s smirk, his intentions had probably been written all over his expression.

Swallowing, his mouth suddenly impossibly dry, Louis turned once again to address his entire class. “Well, if no one has any more questions,” he paused waiting for people to ask and when it looked like that was not going to happen, continued, “I guess I can let you all out five minutes early today. Oh! But don’t forget to turn in your homework from last night, just want to read through and make sure you all actually did it.”

Some groans erupted across the classroom at that last bit, but most people already had their work in hand, ready to fling it on his desk and flee from the room to the dining hall as soon as possible. Within the next minute the room was nearly emptied, save for a few of the stragglers. One of them being Harry. He just had to tease Louis all the fucking time, didn’t he? As the last few filtered out the classroom, Louis realised he was left with a fumbling Bert, the prick of a ‘minder’ and of course the Harry who was still trying to seduce his teacher. 

Bert came up to him and started rambling on about how he didn’t have, had lost, or had forgotten to do his work the previous night. In all honesty, Louis wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to the anxious boy in front of him, his eyes training on the young boy who stood smirking behind Bert. Louis became lost scrutinising the boy’s face within seconds and it was not until he heard an awkward cough did he look away. Apparently, Bert had finished his long and winded excuse. 

“Well, I’m going to have to dock you for this of course, but just make sure to turn it in tomorrow and the short drop in grade will have little to no affect. Don’t worry about it, just make sure to have the assignment with you tomorrow, yeah?” Louis was surprised at how soft and supportive his voice had come. Subconsciously, it was probably because he knew this was the only way to get rid of Bert quickly and effectively. And he needed to get rid of Bert to speak to Harry. Yes, the minder was still in the room, and yes she would be paying close attention to their exchange. But to be honest, Louis just ached to hear the younger boy’s voice in such close proximity. He just needed to be as close to Harry as possible without it becoming suspect, and this was the only way it was possible.

Just as he had predicted, Bert hurriedly thanked Louis for his assurance and understanding before scampering out of the room after the rest of the class, no doubt headed straight for the dining hall. 

“Mr. Tomlinson…” Harry sauntered up to take Bert’s place in front of Louis as soon as he had left. The fucker actually sauntered. 

“Yes, Harry?” ‘Stay calm Louis. Remain calm. Just don’t think about how fucking gorgeous those eyes are. Don’t think about that unruly curly hair, that when pulled in just the right way can have Harry moaning for you. And most of all, do not think about those tight fitting clothes and how you can see the faint outline of Harry’s abdomen and the way that blazer stretches across his strong arms. The way his arms are so welcoming and how perfectly you fit in his embrace and— shit Louis just fucking stop thinking about it!’ Louis’ entire internal debate occurred in a matter of seconds. For exactly how long the young boy had been stood in front of him. Fuck, was he in deep. 

“I was wondering if you could pay attention when you look over the second half of the sheet for me, please? I was thinking of using that as the topic to my essay assignment, and would love to get started soon as possible. So, if you’d just let me know? Make any necessary responses and all, it would be lovely.”

“S—sure thing, Harry. It’s great you’re thinking so far ahead, you’ll be really prepared when it actually gets to writing the essay.” Louis knew his voice was nervous and frayed but he couldn’t help it. That was how Harry made him feel and as much as he loathed the fact a teenage boy could make him feel so anxious and unsure of himself, it was because it was Harry that he loved it all the same. 

“Oh you know me sir, always like to be prepared.” Harry shot him a suggestive wink before exiting the room, minder following close behind. If she had noticed anything off about the teacher’s exchange with his student, she neglected from saying anything. Louis just hoped she was as ignorant as she seemed, because Louis really was a fucking awful actor when it came to all things Harry.


	17. Chapter 17

Sighing, Louis heaved his body through the doorway of his flat, dragging his messenger bag in behind him. “Stan?!” Louis called out for his flatmate, praying to god he was there and would be able to distract Louis from all of his work. Unfortunately, no reply came. Again he sighed as he began to maneuver his way through the small living space into his bedroom. It was there that he proceeded to dump the contents of his bag out onto the bed and begin to sort through them.

Deciding it would be best to start with the most mindless grading first, he dragged out his last period’s class’ homework. All he had to do was sit, read, and determine how much effort the student had apparently put into the work. He was tempted to just give all the students a 4/5, and save a good half hour of his life from reading the same repetitive and droning comments made by his students. However, Louis wasn’t that kind of teacher, and he felt that if students had put in their own time and effort into completing his assignments, the least he could do was read them. So with that thought in mind, he set to work.

Twenty minutes later, and Louis was barely through twelve of the completed papers. With a class of twenty, minus Bert’s missing homework, he still had seven more to go, and to be honest he was fucking exhausted. But he knew that he had to at least get one task completed tonight or he was going to really regret it tomorrow. So, Louis soldiered on, trying his utmost to focus on the task at hand while his eyes teetered precariously close to shutting. That was until he reached the last paper of the pile. The name scrawled across the front took away all thoughts he had been having of sleep. Instead, his heart began to race in his chest from… excitement? He wasn’t really sure.

Slowly, Louis picked up his favourite student’s work and began to read. It was pretty much the same bullshit everyone else had written, except with even less effort put into it and it appeared Harry was in a hurry when he wrote it. Normally, Louis would become irritated with a student for being so careless with their homework, but because it was Harry he could not care less. As Louis turned the page and saw a curious looking post-it plastered onto the work, Harry’s words from earlier that day came drifting back to him.

“I was wondering if you could pay attention when you look over the second half of the sheet for me, please? I was thinking of using that as the topic to my essay assignment, and would love to get started soon as possible. So, if you’d just let me know? Make any necessary responses and all, it would be lovely.”

Looking back down at the page, he saw that it was empty save the special note. Almost hesitantly, Louis removed the sticky note and brought it closer to his face to read.

“Well, well Mr. Tomlinson… this is a difficult situation we find ourselves in. You can’t seem to stop staring at me, even though we’re in the middle of a room with twenty other people, one whose current job it is to find out if you have a certain… fascination with me. But to be honest, I can’t stop staring at you either, Louis. Anyways, the point of this message is to basically inform you that even though my cunt of a sister ratted us out, I don’t want us to end. I hate just the thought of not seeing you again save for your lessons. As long as you still want me, I’m still here Lou. God, I really wish I could tell you all of this face to face. Maybe when the holidays roll around, I’ll have a better chance of being able to see you? And I mean the real you, Louis. Not ‘Mr. Tomlinson’. Gem’s put a sort of track thing on my phone so she’ll know if you text or call me on it. But I bought a shitty little ‘pay-as-you-go’ mobile, so if you want to keep us… 07901554322. Harry xx”

Louis felt himself go numb as he processed the contents of Harry’s note. Everyone surrounding the younger boy and himself appeared to be doing everything in their power to keep the pair apart. A fucking tracker? But then Louis realised something. Harry still wanted to make it work, to make them work. Despite everything they had going against them, Harry continued to do everything in his power to keep them together. Louis felt a painful swell in his chest as he stared down at the carefully scrawled numbers. Those eleven digits were the star-crossed couple’s key to one another. Hastily, Louis made a grab for his mobile, entering in the numbers before saving them under his special nickname for the boy whom he loved, ‘Curly’.

——

*Bzz Bzz Bzz* The sharp vibrations startled the young lad from his slumber as they pierced through the otherwise silent room. *Bzz Bzz Bzz* It was then that Harry realised exactly where the noises had been coming from. Jerking fully awake, Harry hurled himself on the floor and hastily began to rummage through his schoolbag until his hand came in contact with the small rectangular device. Smiling to himself, Harry read the screen.

*1 new message - Boo Bear*

Harry grinned at the name, reminded of the first time he had heard it. Harry was listening in on a conversation Louis was having with his mum on the phone and had overheard her use the term. Harry had collapsed into a joyous fit of giggles as his boyfriend’s cheeks turned a bright crimson.

Brought back to reality by a new string of buzzing protruding from the phone, Harry clicked open the messages.

From: Boo Bear (9:23 p.m.)  
Private mobile? I like it Haz… ;)

From: Boo Bear (9:24 p.m.)  
I miss you too by the way xx

Harry grinned at his teacher’s reaction to his rather forward gesture.

From: Curly (9:26 p.m.)  
Glad to be of service, sir ;) but seriously I have to see you. Gem’s driving me absolutely mad, won’t let me do anything anymore. Doesn’t trust me. School’s not much better with that bloody minder tho xx

From: Boo Bear (9:28 p.m.)  
Shit, I’m sorry Harry. I didn’t mean for things to get like this, it’s all my fault..I’m sorry xx

From: Curly (9:33 p.m.)  
No. It’s not your fault at all. I knew full well what I was getting into, I encouraged it more than you did! If anyone should be apologising it’s me. I’m sorry, Lou..

From: Curly (9:34 p.m.)  
How bout you let me make it up to you? First day of Christmas holidays…keep it open ;) xx

From: Boo Bear (9:38 p.m.)  
Ooh have something special planned, do we Haz? Xx

From: Curly (9:43 p.m.)  
Guess you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you, Boo? ;) x

From: Boo Bear (9:46 p.m.)  
Guess I will. Night, love xx

From: Curly (9:51 p.m.)  
Goodnight babe xxx

Harry hummed contentedly as he pressed ‘send’ on his last message to Louis. His idea had somehow worked, and he now had an unlimited hidden line to Louis in the form of a dated silver brick. Harry fell asleep that night with a peaceful smile hanging loosely on his lips, with thoughts of the teacher whom he loved so dearly drifting through his mind.

Somewhere across town, Louis himself was tucked up in bed, his student’s work lay forgotten on the floor beside him. He would get to that later. But right now, he was just focusing on Harry. He knew that what he was doing was extremely risky and could even get him arrested, but to be honest he found it difficult to care. When it came to Harry, all the choices seemed so simple, not really choices at all. Wherever Harry would go, Louis would follow. Even if that meant losing everything he had worked for in his life, as long as he got to keep his Harry. And with that thought, Louis drifted off into his own tranquil sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

”Alright class, those of you who haven’t, please do turn in your essays before you leave, but other than that you’re all free to go. Have a great holiday, guys!” Louis bid goodbye to his last lesson of the day before the Christmas holidays, and to be honest he coud not be more happy. Sure, he loved teaching and everything, it’s just… he loved spending time with Harry more.

Harry and himself had been texting constantly for the last few weeks, ever since Harry had left his teacher the sticky-note with the number to his private mobile on it. All that Louis knew was that Gemma was going out of town for the weekend with her boyfriend and Harry’s mum didn’t get off of work for another week, and that woman worked constantly. Louis felt a quite bad for Harry at first when he realised how little time he actually got to spend with his own mother. But that was quickly washed away when Louis recognised that with the lack of Gemma and his mother’s supervision, Harry and Louis were free to see one another, very discreetly of course. At least for a few days.

Gemma wasn’t leaving until early the next morning, so as much as Louis was itching to, he was unable to see the boy just yet. With that thought in mind, Louis let out a weary sigh and exited his now empty classroom, locking the door on the way out. He proceeded to walk down the rapidly hollowing corridors until he found his way to the parking lot and his car. Clambering inside, Louis pulled out of the lot, and on his way back on to the main street out of the school, he caught a glimpse of Harry. He was with Zayn, Liam, and Niall. The first two boys walked extremely close, hands itching to be held by the other’s but too afraid of the repercussions of coming out at a school like Brickhouse. Niall however was jumping around Harry, laughing rather loudly about god only knows. Despite the couple’s uncomfortable situation and the childish leprechaun dancing around them, all of the boys looked happy. Secretive smiles were plastered across all of their faces except Niall’s, whose held a lop-sided grin instead. Louis couldn’t help the grin that worked its way onto his own face at the sight of his boyfriend and his friends.

——

“Now, I’ve left all the numbers and important information written down for you on the counter in the kitchen. And I’ll be calling in at least once every morning and night to check on you, make sure you’re not having any wild parties, alright?”

“Yeah alright, mum…” Harry mumbled. “Speaking of Gem, mum is still here, you know? It’s not like you’re leaving me completely alone.”

“I know Haz…” Harry flinched at his sister’s use of the nickname. She rarely ever called him that. Really, only Louis called him that. At the thought of his boyfriend, the corners of Harry’s mouth began to twitch sky-ward and he quickly had to push all images of Louis out of his mind so his sister didn’t suspect anything.

Gemma abruptly pulled her younger brother towards her, gripping onto him tightly and squeezing all the air out of his body. “I’ll miss you, Harry.”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh at his sister’s antics. She always was the drama queen. “Gem, you’re only going to be gone for a few days. It’s not the end of the world.” Pulling away, Gemma scuffed him across the back of the head. “You know I’ll miss you too, though.” Harry smiled up at his sister who, once again, yanked him into a bone-crushing goodbye hug.

She only released him when a honk from outside sounded throughout their small home, letting Gem know that it was time to get a move on. Harry assisted Gemma in carrying her bag out into the car and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she climbed inside and was off. Leaving Harry with absolutely no supervision for at least another 12 hours. The young lad grinned to himself before scampering back inside and up to his room. After all, he had to look good. In a couple of hours, Louis was supposed to be coming round. And it was the first time they would be seeing each other outside of school in over a month. 

Making it safely up the stairs, despite his rush, Harry then hopped into the shower. He began to wash his trademark curls while pondering the events of the day before him. Louis was supposed to be coming round at around eleven. It had just gone nine, which meant that Harry had less than two hours to get everything set up for them. Since they had to stay in the Styles’ residence for the entire time, as they could not be seen out in public together without Louis losing his job and facing criminal charges, Harry had planned out a day of snuggling on the sofa watching movies and eating. He collected some of the classic horror/gore movies, such as Saw while bringing in some favourite chick flicks, such as She’s the Man, and to degrade them further, Harry had even snuck a copy of High School Musical 3 into the mix.

Hopping out of the shower, Harry began to dry himself off before shaking out his curls and wrapping the towel around his waist. Going into his room, he opened his closet and grabbed onto the hanger, which held the clothes, he had planned out a week in advance for this day. It was nothing special, a plain white shirt with a pair of skinny jeans and a knitted sweater on top, but it was all the clothes that Louis had complimented Harry on every time he wore them. And Harry had to look his best. After dressing and messily attempting to tame his rapidly drying hair, Harry dug out the collection of movies for the day, and ran downstairs with them. He placed them on the counter in the living room, next to the large T.V. before running into the kitchen.

Harry loved to cook, and to be honest he was really rather skilled for a teenage boy, but today he couldn’t worry about cooking Louis a fancy meal. Today he just had to spend as much time with the older male as possible, so it was a pizza and Chinese take-out day. But, Harry was also a brilliant baker, and he decided he had enough time to make Louis his absolute favourite desert. Chocolate-chip brownies, taken out the oven five minutes early so the insides were still gooey. Harry grinned to himself as he found the box of brownie batter he had hidden away for this very purpose and hurriedly set to work. The brownies would take him at least twenty minutes, and Harry had spent more time focused on his appearance than he probably should have. Leaving him only forty minutes until Louis was due to arrive. And, knowing Louis, he would probably show up ten minutes early.

——

The harsh tones of the doorbell reverberating throughout the Styles’ residence pulled Harry out of his baking entrancement. The young lad had been so focused on producing the perfect batch of brownies for his lover that he had completely lost track of time. But Harry’s brain momentarily forgot all about the deserts he was baking as he scrambled through the small corridor and towards the front door, eager to see Louis. However, even Harry wasn’t prepared for the sight that met him as he wrenched open the door.

Louis stood before him, anxiety plaguing his features as he awaited the curly-haired lad’s arrival. Harry took in the metamorphosis Louis’ features had when finally settling his sights on Harry. His anxiety soon turned into joy as Harry’s newly-found company comforted the teacher. Harry stood for a few more moments, eyes raking over Louis’ form before stepping aside and ushering the older male inside the home which acted as covert for the disallowed relationship.

Once inside, the two boys did not stop staring at each other, both afraid to take the first step towards reaching out to the other. The loss of contact over the past few weeks had not been more prominent than in that small period of time as the boys stood unsure of themselves in the corridor of Harry’s home.

Harry used this time to admire his teacher’s body. He really had to give Louis credit for his fashion choices; not a lot of men could pull the ‘sailor’ look (as the curly-haired boy often teased him) off. Most men would look like an arrogant prick in Louis’ clothing, but not Louis. The striped shirt that rested on his shoulders created a comforting aura to emanate off of the older male.

All of a sudden, before Harry’s mind even fully registered what was occurring, he felt a fierce pressure against his own lips. Instantly recognising the soft skin to be Louis’ lips, Harry did not hesitate for a moment in reciprocating every last bit of that kiss. The pair remained a while longer kissing next to the front door of the residence, before finally breaking apart for air. Although the kiss had been simple, and pretty much all close-mouthed, the state of the pair said otherwise. Harry’s sweater was halfway off of his body, his shirt riding up slightly from where Louis had begun to run his hands on the larger boy’s abdomen. His hair appeared even more unruly than usual from the presence of Louis’ wandering hands, causing it to stick up in every direction. Louis’ own shirt was crumpled up from where Harry had gripped on so intensely, attempting to pull the older male as close to him as physically possible. His jeans had been pushed down, almost off his arse as Harry’s roaming hands had found their way down to Louis’ bum, pressing the lower halves of their body’s together. The couple had wanted to be as close to one another as physically possible in that moment, after spending so much time apart since the ‘Gemma ordeal’ as Harry had grown to call it. The closer they could be then made every missed opportunity to be together from the past few weeks seem insignificant, just because they knew that this moment was theirs, and theirs alone.

As Louis rested his forehead against the other boy’s while they tried to regain their breath, he couldn’t help the slight chuckle that managed to slip its way through his lips. Harry’s body tensed for a moment under Louis’ before a deep laugh came from the younger boy.

“Well that was some welcoming, Lou.”

“I’ve really missed you, Curly.”

“And I’ve missed you too, Boo Bear.”


	19. Chapter 19

“So Hazhead, what’s the plan for today then?”It took everything within Harry not to break out into a full-blown grin at the use of the nickname. He wasn’t sure exactly when he had gotten so giddy, but finally being able to spend time alone with Louis, away from the judgmental eyes of the people of Doncaster, really seemed to be having quite the affect on him.

“Well, boo… I thought we’d just hang around here, order in some food, watch some movies, talk. Nothing special, you know?” Harry attempted to keep his tone as nonchalant as possible, playing off the day as a casual hang out for the two boys. But neither boy was successful in hiding their excitement at being able to spend the entire day with the boy they loved.

“Sounds perfect to me.” Louis swept in for a lingering but chaste kiss before grabbing Harry’s hand and walking them through to the living room.

As soon as he entered, the first thing that caught his eye was the arrangement of the sofa. There seemed to be even more cushions than usual, as well as multiple blankets draped across it. ‘For snuggling…’ Louis thought. Harry was always a great cuddler. Next, his eyes landed on the stack of movies placed on the edge of the coffee table. Louis approached the table before picking up the large stack of DVDs Harry had picked out for them.

Louis couldn’t help but roll his eyes at some of Harry’s choices. Don’t get him wrong; Louis appreciated a good trashy horror film as much as the next bloke, but he had rather thought this was going to be romantic. However, his reactions soon shifted into those of approval as he reached the second half of the pile. Classic chick flicks (all Gemma’s, Harry protested); rom coms, tearjerkers, and even a few specifically produced for tween girls. Yet it was not until Louis reached the last movie in the pile that he immediately dumped the rest of the DVDs rather unceremoniously back onto the table before turning back to face Harry, an eager grin lighting up his features. There, clutched in his hands, was Harry’s own copy of ‘Clueless’.

“How did you know?” Louis breathed out, staring at Harry absolutely stunned by the boy’s impeccable choices. Ever since he was an extremely young boy, Louis had been entirely obsessed with the film. His mum had been in love with it since the release, and bought it on VHS as soon as it became available. She had watched it countless times, but always with Louis who insisted on sitting with her while it was playing, even though he couldn’t really understand what was happening. As he had gotten older, he had come to forget the film, but sometime in his late teens, Louis had rediscovered it. And he had fallen in love all over again. But now, he could watch it with the one non-family member he loved more than anything else in the world.

Harry barked out a laugh as he watched Louis’ face glow with pure adoration and joy over the discovery of the film. He looked just like a 6-year-old boy who had just gotten their first action figure at Christmas time.

“Alright, alright Lou. Calm yourself will you, when did you start acting like a teenage girl then?”

Louis immediately reacted to the lighthearted insult by flinging himself toward his boyfriend and playfully hitting his arm in protest. “I. Am. Not. A. Teenage. Girl!” He yelled, punctuating each word with a slap. Louis’ reaction to the teasing only caused greater laughter to erupt from the younger boy’s frame. “Take. It. Back!”

Somehow, through his fits of absolute heartwarming laughter, Harry was able to breathe out some form of an apology. Louis was quick to forgive however, his taller boyfriend soon wrapping him up in a gentle embrace. Louis couldn’t help but almost melt at the sensation of Harry’s long arms wrapped around his own body in such a loving way. By the way that Harry handled Louis, as if he were a porcelain doll about to break at any moment, Louis could tell just how much the younger lad cared for him. And if anyone else had treated him in such a way, he would have loathed it, hated being babied over. But it was Harry treating him like the most precious and delicate being in the world. It was his Harry. And that did nothing but make his heart soar with pure adoration.

——

Later that afternoon, having gone through Clueless, St. Trinian’s, and She’s the Man, along with two large pizzas and countless bags of popcorn, Louis and Harry found themselves lounging on the sofa together just talking. To be perfectly honest, neither were trying too hard to keep an interesting and consistent conversation flowing, it was more just ramblings between the two young boys. Neither was even really paying attention to what they were talking about, it was just something to fill the silence around them as they stared off at one another. They used their rare and precious time alone to just relax and enjoy the company of their boyfriend.

It wasn’t until Louis voiced the thoughts that had been plaguing his mind ever since the original meeting with the Headmaster a few weeks back that their easy chatter and comfortable atmosphere snapped. “Oh Harry, Harry, Harry. How am I ever going to manage you?”

Harry’s eyebrows quirked upwards at the Louis’ utterly random comment. “Pardon?”

“I just wish this were easier. Never mind all of the teacher-student bullshit, never mind the age gap, never mind the fact we’ve only been dating a couple of months and already I’m one hundred percent head-over-heels in love with you. But Haz… don’t you ever feel like you’re fighting an unceasing battle?”

Louis watched as Harry’s expressions altered through his words. It started off curious, innocent, Louis’ admittance of just how smitten with the younger lad he was morphing his expression to that of a love-sick puppy, and then full circle all the way back to confusion once again. “What do you mean, Boo?”

“Well… it just feels like no matter what we do, there’ll always be someone, or something working against us.” This did nothing to help quench Harry’s confusion, so Louis continued. “Well, the first reason is we’re a gay couple. That’ll always stir up a few people. But those people can go fuck themselves because their views on love and society are completely fucked.” Harry attempted to stifle an abrupt bark of laughter at that. Louis just shot his boyfriend a small smile before carrying on. “But really what I mean is that… your family, Haz. I really want them to like me. I mean, Gemma used to love me, but ever since she found out about our relationship, I just… I don’t know if it’s because I’m dating her brother, if she thinks I’m taking advantage of you because you’re my student, or quite frankly if she’s just jealous. I know she used to have a thing for me, so maybe she’s just taking out some of her anger over me and her not being able to work on our relationship. And your mum, oh Haz, I’ve never even met your mum! But I already know she’ll hate me. Well, not me really, but more the idea of ‘us’. I just don’t know what to do anymore, Harry. I really want your family to love me, or even just like or tolerate me. I can’t stand being disliked. But because of our… situation, I don’t know if that’ll ever be possible and I don’t want them to hate me Haz, they can’t hate me. Especially because I plan on being with you for a long time.”

Harry was absolutely gobsmacked with Louis’ confession. Of course he knew that Louis felt extremely insecure when it came to specifics about their relationship, and he hated not getting on with people, but he hadn’t realised just how bad it had gotten to the older boy. Not only that, but Harry was also shocked to hear the last bit of Louis’ confession. Of course he knew that Louis loved him, and he was risking a lot for him, but he’d always had a voice in the back of his mind telling him that if it really came down to it, Louis would leave him. Harry had known that it was an idiotic thought, but he had been unable to rid his mind of it for the duration of their relationship. But with that last admission, every thought of Louis leaving him was dismissed from his mind. Without hesitation, Harry enveloped his boyfriend in a gigantic bear hug, smothering his smaller frame completely.

“Oh Boo. I love you, you know that? So, so much. I’m always going to be here for you, as long as you’ll let me, I’ll be right here.”

“But your family…” Louis somehow managed to breathe into Harry’s chest, through the larger boy’s vice-like grip on his body.

“Shh, Boo. They’ll understand, eventually. You’ve just got to give them time. That’s all they’ll need. Gemma’s just confused and having a hard time accepting the rejection and the fact that her baby brother bats for the other team. She just needs to get used to the idea, she’ll warm right back up to you eventually. And mum… exactly what you’ve just said, you haven’t even met mum! My mum’s an extremely understanding an accepting person and I know that she’ll understand this, Louis. This… what we have, is so much more powerful than I could have ever imagined. Again, she may need time, but I’m talking weeks, months at most. And as I just said, I’ll always be here for you if you want me to be. Always. just remember that for me, yeah?”

Harry finally released Louis from his suffocating hold, drawing his lanky body back to stare into the older man’s eyes, searching for some kind of acknowledgment of Harry’s words. He was met with shining blue cerulean orbs, shining even brighter than usual as they glowed with joy and tears.

“I love you, Harry, more than you will ever know.”

A large grin broke out on Harry’s face as he watched his elated boyfriend, residing in the warmth that his words had provided. Seeing the younger lad sat there, beaming madly, gleaming whites taking up the majority of his face, accompanied by those ever-endearing dimples, Louis could no longer resist. Surging forwards, he captured Harry’s face with his hands, guiding it towards his own for a lasting kiss.


	20. Chapter 20

“So, what should we do next?” Harry sat cross-legged on the floor, gazing up at Louis with an adorable puppy-like expression on his face. At some point throughout the day, he had changed out of his jeans and into a faded old pair of tracksuit bottoms, and removed his sweater, making him appear even smaller than he was in the new apparel.

Louis grinned down at his boyfriend from where he perched on top of the sofa, the only thing between them a game board of Trivial Pursuit, which they had managed to find in the middle of a mess of stored away boxes, still unpacked from the move. Louis had always prided himself on games of knowledge such as Trivial Pursuit, completing college with almost perfect scores, and was surprised that Harry was able to be such a challenge for him when it came to the game.

“Well… I can think of one thing, that doesn’t involve any form of schoolwork or thinking whatsoever, Mr. Tomlinson.” Harry waggled his eyebrows at Louis in a suggestive manner, before hopping up from his position on the carpet and finding residence on his boyfriend’s lap.

“Oh yeah? And what might that be, young Styles?”

Harry took that as a cue to push his entire body up against Louis’ and force his own mouth onto the elder boy’s. Louis was quick to reciprocate the kiss, having gone what felt like months without the feeling of Harry’s body moving in tandem with his own. The two boys soon got lost in the moment, the heat from the kiss warming their entire bodies. Louis could feel the laboured breaths flowing out of Harry’s nostrils, as he fought to hold the kiss as long as possible. Granted, it was quite sloppy and messy, both struggled to obtain dominance, tongues battling each other’s, too much teeth getting in the way. But neither boy could bring themselves to care, enjoying the sensation of having another person they loved so dearly as close as they were with one another.

The pair were so caught up within each other that neither boy managed to hear the sound of the front door opening and closing, or the footsteps that reverberated around the wooden corridor as a woman found her way into the living room. Neither boy noticed the presence of the older woman as she stood there for a few moments, mouth hanging open in total shock, until she opened her mouth and managed to utter out something.

“Harry… wh—what are you…?”

Instantly recognising the voice, Harry leapt off of Louis as fast as humanly possible and scrambled across the floor away from both his boyfriend and mother, eyes blown open wide in horror. Louis remained stock-still on the sofa, the woman unfamiliar to him in so many ways, but all too familiar in others. The same mouth, eyes, hair as the boy currently curled up in the corner of the room in fright. Louis’ worst fears were confirmed by Harry’s following words.

“Mum… mum, what are you doing home?”

“I got… they let me off early at work, I thought I’d come home and surprise you, thought we’d spend the day together—Harry who is this?”

“He’s… he’s… I’m sorry, mum. I’m so sorry.” Louis found himself frozen in absolute terror, unable to provide aid or comfort to his younger boyfriend who sat across the room from himself.

Realising she wasn’t going to be able to retrieve any information from Harry, Anne rounded on Louis. “Now, will you tell me, who the bloody hell are you?!”

Louis glanced over at his boyfriend, who had taken to hugging his knees as a form of comfort, before answering. Harry was clearly at a loss as to how to handle the current situation and his body was literally beginning to quake in absolute horror. “Ms. Styles—“

“Ms. Cox.”

“Ri—right, Ms. Cox, I’m Lo—I’m your son’s… boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend? My son has a boyfriend?!” The woman’s face was a mixture of hatred and anger. “No he bloody well does not, my baby, he would’ve told me! My baby would’ve told me if he had a boyfriend!” She paused for a moment, once again taking in Louis’ appearance. “But…you must be at least 20. At least.” Louis just attempted to hide his face, unable to think up an adequate response in order to put the woman’s fears to rest. “My boy… Harry he’s only that, a boy! And you come in here, like the fucking paedophile you are trying to take advantage of my poor son.” She ran over to Harry, cocooning him in a caring and motherly embrace. “Why did you do this to my son? Can’t you see how much you’ve upset him, can’t you see how hurt he is? You’re just a fucking disgusting pervert! Get out! Get out of my house!”

Louis was frozen in shock; his brain was too busy focusing in on the untruthful slurs still hanging in the now silent room, thrown his way by Harry’s mother. She thought he had forced Harry into the relationship, that he was making Harry be with him. Louis was able to judge the situation, and knew his presence was only making things worse on himself, and ultimately Harry. Louis also knew that Harry was too scared to fight his mother, talk back to her in any way. And Louis didn’t blame him, he had been in that situation before, you just go along with whatever she says in order to abate their anger. It took him a few moments in order to collect himself, but eventually he managed to prise his body off of the sofa and dazedly make his way toward the front door. However, he found himself pause while his hand was mid-way to the doorknob when a gut-wrenching cry could be heard from the recently departed room.

“Louis! Louis, don’t leave me!”

Once again, Louis froze, unknowing of what to do. He couldn’t just leave Harry, not like this. Not when Harry so desperately wanted him to stay. But Harry’s mother… she no doubt knew about the allegations made by Gemma to the school, and Louis’ name was probably seared into her mind. The ‘paedophile teacher’ at Brickhouse who had a certain eye out for her son.

Louis just stood contemplated whether or not he should return to the living room, before he felt another body slam into his own, gripping onto him as tightly as possible. Harry held onto Louis like he was a lifeline, the only thing keeping him from breaking down and crumbling right then and there. He couldn’t lose Louis, if Harry lost Louis, he would lose everything. The pair had known each other for less than a year but already had grown closer than people who have been together for years. They had a sort of connection that was hard to find with other people, and neither were willing to give it up for the world.

Suddenly, the lovers were brought shatteringly back down to Earth by the sound of Anne’s voice. Surprisingly though, she didn’t sound harsh or hateful, only exasperated and maybe even a little bit curious. “So… you’re ‘famous’ Louis Tomlinson, then?”

Harry pulled away from his boyfriend, giving him an encouraging nod before throwing one of his arms around Louis’ shoulders, pulling him closer. Louis instinctively wrapped his own arm around Harry’s waist and leaned closer into his boyfriend’s side, relishing the comfort and warmth that Harry’s body provided.

In a shaky, yet somehow determined voice, Louis managed to respond. “Yes… yes I am. I take it you know our… situation. But let me assure you, miss, that I have done nothing to harm your son. I swear to you that everything that’s happened between us has been entirely consensual and I did try to stay away from him at first, but I’m not really sure how it happened, but something did. I can’t describe it. Harry’s the first thing that comes to mind when I wake up, he’s the last thought that passes through my mind before I drift off to sleep. Whenever I’m reminded of him throughout the day, or whenever I catch a glimpse of him in the hallways, I can’t help smiling to myself a little. He’s outright cheeky and really quite crude, as most teenage boys, but he has a separate side to him that I have been fortunate enough to see. There’s a side to Harry that he keeps very protected, he puts up barriers so others won’t be able to see in, but I believe Harry has broken down those barriers when I’m around him. He is funny, extremely smart, adorable, and determined; he knows what he wants and won’t stop until he gets it. Harry isn’t the type of person to be guilted, tricked, or forced into something that he doesn’t full want to do. He’s a strong person, who knows what’s best for him and is able to take care of himself,” he shot Harry a sideways glance, smirking slightly, “for the most part anyways. What I’m trying to say, Ms. Cox, is that your son is with me because that’s who he is, and who he wants to be. And don’t worry; because I can assure you, I love Harry more than anyone else in the entire world. I would do anything for your son, Ms. Cox, anything.”

Louis finished off his speech before chancing another glance at Harry, who remained pressed firmly up against his side. Nervous about the impending reaction of Anne, Louis wanted to check if what he had said was okay with Harry. But instead of receiving a reassuring smile or nod, Louis was met instead with the glistening watery eyes of Harry. There was no over-the-top grin plastered across the teenage boy’s face, but instead a sweet smile filled with the utmost sincerity laced his lips, dimples only just showing through his cheeks. “Oh, Lou… I love you.” Harry swept in for a chaste brushing of lips, before leaning back and mumbling “I love you’s” into Louis’ neck. Louis could feel warm liquid beginning to slide down his neck, but chose to say nothing about it, now looking to Anne in order to gauge her reaction to the spectacle before her.

What he saw was definitely not what Louis expected. She was smiling, in such a loving way it could be taken as nothing but accepting and understanding. Although doubt was spotted in her eyes, Louis knew that Anne understood the depths of his relationship with her son. Anne shook Louis out of his miniature daydream when she opened her mouth once more.

“You know, as soon as the school told me about the alleged ‘affair’, I first looked you up on the website. I read all about what type of background and school you’d come from, and honestly you seemed like the nicest guy. I’d heard Harry talk about you before that as well, fondly might I add, nothing in a way that suggests you’d been hurting him or forcing him in any way at all.” Anne just glanced toward her son who had his face still buried in the nape of Louis’ neck. “Look Louis, I know Harry wouldn’t be with you if he didn’t want to be. That’s not him, he’s a strong lad. And I know how good you’ve been to him and how beneficial this… relationship has been for him. Given him something else to focus on, other than what’s going on at home, you know? I’m actually quite glad you two found each other. I know it’s weird for me to want to give consent for, let alone support this sort of relationship but, especially after that little display by the both of you, I can’t bring myself to force you apart. Honestly, I feel as though that may do more harm than good.” Anne remained rooted to the spot, enjoying the happiness that seemed to be emanating around the room before pausing, her face contorting back to one of slight rage. “Now I know you care for my son Louis, I do, but I just want you to know that if you ever hurt him in any way, I will not hesitate in calling the authorities on you. If I ever hear anything from Harry about the way you’ve been treating him, which I disapprove of, you’d better get ready for a fucking court case. I will not delay in throwing your arse in jail, understood?”

“Yes, Ms. Cox, I entirely understand. If I ever manage to hurt Harry in that way, in all honesty, I bloody well deserve to get thrown in jail. You have my word that I will do everything and anything in my power to take care of Harry for however long he allows me to, whether that be for another few months, god forbid, or even for the rest of my life. I will always be here for him, and I will always love him.” Louis’ voice broke near the end of his latest speech, the meaning behind it all truly catching up to him. Every single word that he had just said had been entirely true. He had basically just bared his soul to Harry’s mum, in front of the boy himself.

However, Louis felt himself reassured when Harry let out an audible sob, and tears threatened to spill out of even Anne’s eyes. “Well, I’ll leave you two boys alone for a minute while I go put the kettle on, shall I?” She silently slipped into the kitchen, and it was only when his mother had vacated the corridor did Harry lift his face to be once again level with Louis’.

“Did you… did you really mean all of that, Lou?”

Louis was able to see the insecurity floating around in Harry’s eyes, as the younger boy began to bite down on his lip, clearly consumed with anxiety. Louis lifted his hands to frame the larger boy’s face. “Oh Haz… of course I did. Of course I did. I love you. More than I can ever express. You mean the world five times over to me, and I could never leave you. I’d break without you, Haz, I just wouldn’t be me anymore. As much of a ‘chick flick moment’ all of this has been, you’ve got to understand that every single thing I just told your mother was really directed at you. Every word was nothing but the complete truth. I love you, Harry Styles.”

“And I love you, Louis Tomlinson.” Harry just paused for a moment, nothing but pure adoration in his expression before he leaned down a little, and pressed his lips against Louis’ in a surprisingly forceful way. The couple remained with their lips locked for a few seconds before Harry pulled back, an entirely different expression now consuming his features. “Lou-bear, I can’t believe you just admitted all of that in front of my mum…”

“I just can’t believe she’s okay with all of this. Don’t get me wrong, she seems like a cool woman and everything, but seriously. I’m just… shocked.”

“Well, my mum’s usually a pretty good lie-detector, and she knows how much of a positive difference you’ve made to my life in the past few months, so the fact you’re telling the truth and helping me through all of this shit in my life must mean you really do care about me, Boo. So all that considered, I don’t think she really minds a few years age gap, really.” Harry surreptitiously scanned around before continuing, “Plus, I’m pretty sure she sort of had an affair with her boss once when she was an intern quite a few years ago.”

“Oi! I can hear you two, you know? And if you must know, he wasn’t technically my boss. He was the sort of… assistant to my boss. Now get in here before this bloody tea gets cold!”


	21. (Epilogue)

Harry’s eyes fluttered open as the scintillating sunlight began to shine through the thin curtains drawn over the large window in the bedroom. He felt an arm stretched across his waist, holding him down in place, and a body snuggled up to his back. A smile found its way onto the young boy’s face as he felt warm breath hit the nape of his neck and he placed his large hands over the smaller ones clinging tightly to his body. The smile only intensified as he felt the other body begin to move even closer to his own, until there was nothing separating their bare torsos. However, as soon as Harry was able to process exactly what day it was, he shot straight up, breaking the elder boy’s hold on him slightly. 

Louis began to stir as he felt his boyfriend bolt into an upright position. Panic shot through him, instantly fearing the worst. Wrenching open his eyes however, Louis was met with the smirking face of Harry Styles with nothing but mischief and pure joy glinting in those emerald orbs. Louis could no longer contain the grin that had been working its way onto his face, and sat up so he was at a level eye-line with the other boy.

“Why so cheerful this morning, Styles?”

“Louis… do you know what today is?” Harry’s smirk never faltered, and his voice remained at its deep and husky morning tone only with an extra level of lust slipped in.

Louis could feel himself growing aroused at just the tone of the younger boy’s voice, but forced himself to think. It took Louis no more than a few seconds to reach the conclusion and the grin already on his face only widened until it reached from one ear to the other. “It’s the last day—“

“That’s right, Lou…” Harry began to move so his body was towering over Louis’, and the elder boy was forced into slowly lying down to keep some distance between him and the younger boy. Harry only followed him however, that same look of mischief now spread across his entire face. “And you know what that means… this is the last time I can ever fuck one of my teachers…”

“Oh is it, now?”

“Yes, it is actually. And, I was thinking…”

“Yes…”

“We should make this one… special.” Harry watched Louis’ eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Well, I sort of have this… I was wondering if we could maybe role-play?”

Louis immediately understood what Harry was talking about and although he was shocked and perhaps a bit nervous, they had never done any role-play before, Louis couldn’t help but find the entire situation exciting. “Oh you were, were you?”

“Well, it’s the last time we’re ever going to be able to do this while it’s actually still true, you know. So… why waste the opportunity?”

Instead of responding, Louis just gathered himself off of the bed, still clad in nothing but his boxers and began to dress in his typical teacher’s outfit, sliding a pair of glasses on his nose before turning back to Harry and throwing the younger boy’s clothes at him. “Mr. Styles, I want you to get changed quickly, and then meet me in my office as soon as you’re done, understood?”

Harry’s smirk grew as he hurriedly began slipping on his school clothes from the night before. “Yes, sir.” Louis gave Harry a curt nod before slipping out of the room and into the small office space he had in his flat, awaiting Harry’s arrival.

Louis was sat there for no more than two minutes before he heard a knock at the door of his office. His grin returned, as he reclined in his chair. “Come in.”

——

Harry and Louis’ little sex escapade had taken much longer than intended or thought, but it had most definitely been worth every second of their time. The pair had made it to the school quite late. Obviously, the duo had not arrived together, Harry making an appearance moments before the bell rang, Louis showing up at his classroom almost ten minutes into his first class.

The final day of school for all sixth formers consisted off twenty minute long classes, as a final goodbye to the school and everyone in it, followed by a congratulatory and well-wishing assembly conducted by the headmaster. And with that, all Year 13s were free from secondary school for life, the majority going on to Uni, and a large number of others heading out into the ‘real’ world in search of opportunities to start their lives as adults. But for Harry and Louis, it meant that they would finally be able to start their life together. The pair would be able to come out of hiding and be together in public.

With Anne’s blessing, the duo had found a medium sized one-bedroom flat three miles from where Harry would be attending University the next year and about nine miles from Brickhouse. Gemma, granted it had taken a while, had finally come round to the concept of Harry and Louis being together. She had apologised profusely to Louis, of course, not realising the true damage her rash actions could have caused until after the fact. Although there was still an uneasy dynamic with the relationship of Louis with Harry’s family, it was something that all four of them were willing to work on, and something they all knew would only improve with time. Anne and Louis had gotten on far better than Harry would ever have hoped and even Gemma seemed to be genuinely warming up to Louis as the days went by.

As Louis sat through that dreadful end of year assembly, he couldn’t prevent himself from stealing glances over at Harry who sat only three rows ahead of him, near the back of the room. He was in the middle of his best mates, none of whom were paying any mind to the horrendous display occurring on stage. Instead, they were animatedly chatting with one another, all ecstatic that their adolescent lives were finally coming to an end.

After the assembly, at least half of his student’s parents came up to Louis to thank him for all that he’d done for their child over the past couple of years. Apparently he was quite popular with the teenagers, and judging by some of the looks he was receiving from the mothers, with their parents too. Louis took time to talk to every single parent that came up to him, grateful that he had a job he enjoyed so much, and that he was able to inspire so many younger members of society. It was a small price to pay.

However, as soon as his eyes locked onto that unruly mop of curls bounding towards him, Louis had no choice but to excuse himself from the horribly dull conversation he was having with the single mother of some boy he was sure wasn’t even in his class, and make his way over to Harry.

When he reached his boyfriend, Harry was engaged in an excited conversation with Gemma, the siblings throwing in wild hand gestures every few seconds. Louis caught Anne’s eye and grinned towards her, Anne giving a sincere smile in return.

“So… how’s it feel to be done with college, then?” Harry whirled round at the sound of Louis’ voice, flashing a smile at his boyfriend when he saw the loving expression on the elder boy’s face.

“Absolutely brilliant, Mr. Tomlinson.”

“Oh shut up, you cunt!”

“Oi! You’re not allowed to do that, you’re my teacher!”

Louis smirked as he leaned in closer to whisper in Harry’s ear, “Not anymore, remember? Anyways, I didn’t hear you using that excuse this morning…” As Louis pulled back, he could see Harry getting visibly flustered, a bright blush slowly forming on his dimpled cheeks.

“Louis!” Anne’s voice penetrated the moment the couple were sharing, unbeknownst to the two girls stood next to them who had picked up their own conversation once Louis had arrived. “We were going out for a celebratory lunch, and were wondering if you would like to join us? I mean, it wouldn’t seem right with you not being there.”

“Thank you, Anne, that sounds wonderful.”

“Come on then boys, let’s go!” Anne began to pull her son through the massive crowd, which had gathered in the great hall of the school, back where Harry first set eyes on Louis.

“Hang on, mum, I’m just gonna say goodbye to the lads.”

“Alright then, love. Be quick, though! Don’t keep us waiting too long.”

As Harry scampered off to find his mates, Louis felt a hand slip into his. He looked to his right and found Anne gazing up at him. “You really love him, don’t you Lou?”

Louis was shocked by the question which had popped up out of nowhere, but as he heard Harry’s boisterous laugh pierce through the veil of excited chatter that filled the hall, Louis couldn’t help but croak out a soft “Yes”.

“I know you do, love. I know you do. Just… take care of my baby for me, Louis. I know you will anyways, but just promise me—“

Louis turned from where he was gazing out into the crowd of unfamiliar family members of some of his students and directly into Anne’s eyes. “I will do everything in power to protect him. I care about him more than I’ve ever thought possible. I don’t know where I’d be without him, he makes me strive to do better things, to want to achieve more and be the best person I can possibly be… it’s for him. The least I could do is keep him safe. I love him, Anne. I really and truly do.”

“I love you too, Boo Bear.” Louis looked up from Anne’s face and locked gazes with Harry. Tears seemed as though they were appearing in the younger boy’s eyes, but he held them back as he grabbed onto Louis’ hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, hidden from the judgmental eyes of the school. Slowly, he rubbed his thumb over the back of Louis’ hand, a silent sign to let his boyfriend know that he would make up for the lack of contact later, when they were allowed to be themselves. It was Harry's way of reassuring Louis that he is there for him, and always will be.


End file.
